Keywords

critical thinking; information literacy; media literacy; press freedom

The complexity of the media

Academic communities and universities are no longer the only places for the growth of knowledge as the mass media currently play an undeniable role in its development and propagation.

The mass media have stopped being the mere broadcasters of information and tend to be more selective of the information they focus on. For the mass media to be neutral, broadcasting whatever ideas are passed to them without prejudice, is an unrealistic proposition. For instance, if we consider television, its structure and nature, and the influence of its message, we can see that it is more than just an amplifier of sound and purveyor of images. Television is something more than a mere mediator and to understand this idea, and that of the complexity of the media, needs media literacy. The question is, what section of society in Arab countries is equipped with media literacy and understands the complexity of the media? While we discuss the power of the mass media in this book, it must be remembered that many people in Arab countries do not have access to these media and the Internet is not as yet the dominant medium in these countries. It must be borne in mind that the leaders of the recent revolutions were the youth, who have at least a minimum of information literacy; the source of Iran’s revolution three decades ago, on the other hand, was the common people, the main body of society, who used traditional media such as the mosque for communication. The traditional media overtook the modern state-run media in Iran’s revolution, while in the case of Arab countries it is the online media that have overtaken the traditional mass media, such as television and newspapers. Another point is the high rate of illiteracy among women in Arab countries, which suggests that women are not as able to lead the revolution as are men.

Information literacy is a step up they may be handed, from standard literacy. According to Wallis (2005), the term ‘information literacy’ covers the skills required to make use of and navigate in the electronic environment. The importance of information literacy is more evident when specific information is needed and the ability to find, evaluate and utilise that information is required. Such needs swelled at the peak of the public movements in Arab countries. People were relying mainly on the social media to find out about public demonstrations, gathering places and information about corrupt leaders. In addition, the people’s inclination to lead the revolution and their need to find first-hand information were further reasons for the expansion of social media during the unrest. This need for information in Arab countries with rich oil resources has always been a challenge. While it is undeniable that information literacy in developed societies powers national growth, what about Arab countries? In spite of societies based on competitive economies in which people are rewarded based on their own work and success, in societies run on the income from oil, groups with more power and money receive a larger proportion of national income and rent. Clearly, bringing down one government and forming a new one is only a matter of replacing people and the system soon returns to its normal track – society, in other words, watches a new group of more rich and powerful people replace the old group. An outstanding feature of these societies is the deep doubts that are held regarding the powerful in society as people commonly believe that the rich and the powerful have reached their position not by their competency and work but rather because of their relationships with the new rulers – which is true in many cases. Consequently, information needs, even where information literacy exists, are directed to expand mistrust in the leaders. However, this does not lead to fundamental changes, as the built-up hatred targets individuals, not the whole system. Thus the movements for reform replace people rather than systems, giving rise to a vicious circle of underdevelopment in Arab countries. This phenomenon explains why two years after the revolutions in the Arab world, these countries still experience unrest, as there is always a group who oppose the leaders even when the system functions properly. A notable example of this is the huge campaign supporting the presidency of Mohammad Morsi, which at the time of writing, has turned into an ‘anti-Morsi’ campaign and he is currently on trial. Although information literacy appears to be highly developed in Arab countries, the image is a false one, and as post-revolution events show, a deep information illiteracy has expanded in society. A key factor in this illiteracy is the surge in users of social media, many joining these networks for the first time and only to find information. This widens the gap between real users and immediate users. The latter group can induce serious challenges ahead of the realisation of the actual goals of the revolution, as they make decisions based on their current emotions. They rush to participate in the revolution in the heat of their passion and forget the revolution as fast as they decided to join it in the first place. It is unreasonable to expect public recognition of concepts such as rationality, dialogue and so on, which are appropriate grounds for information literacy education. The pace of technology development is so high as to be unstoppable. There is no solution for the problem when it is too big. Thus Arab countries and others that took part in the recent outbreaks of revolution are not comparable with developed countries and the large numbers of social network users in the former does not mean high levels of information literacy. The key outcome of information literacy is the removal of limitations by means of which underdeveloped nations may be compensated for the damage they have sustained from colonising countries or their own corrupt leaders. This, unfortunately, is not the case in Arab countries – at least until now, though the future is not bright for them. Underdevelopment, together with the desire to develop, are good motivations for the outbreak of revolution, but a revolution which is led by an illiterate society again leads to underdevelopment. Iran’s revolution is a good example for those believing that revolution leads to development. The question is whether Iranians have enjoyed more development since the recent revolution than they would have if revolution had taken place. This is not an easy question to answer. However, the growth of government and non-government corruption, emphasised by the recent expansion of mistrust in the government and the system, and the development of quantitative rather that qualitative science, all hint that the Iranian revolution has not been as successful as it is portrayed. Even the development of higher education and literacy in Iran is counterbalanced by a ‘brain drain’. The revolution is therefore diverging from its original goals. To have a better picture, let’s look at the statistics provided by a small-scale study in Mashhad and Tehran, with 1,362 participants:

Literacy and political knowledge

At any rate, the outcome of literacy and social media in combination, which leads to the acceleration of revolution, is an increase in political knowledge. People can turn their potential power into actual power using political knowledge. People’s power without political knowledge has no chance of mobilisation. Political knowledge paves the way for the actualisation of this power. The mass media in Arabic countries and Iran have always tried to keep the public unaware of what is going on in society by focusing on trivial matters. This gives more room to the rulers to drown in corruption. The emergence of social media in this situation jeopardises the tranquility of corrupt rulers – this is not a phenomenon unique to Arab and Middle East countries, as rulers in the USA have faced problems after the expansion of social media (e.g. WikiLeaks). Undoubtedly, then, expansion of social media affects the public trust in the ruling system. In other words, in spite of the mass media, the social media are part of the changes, rather than being reporters of the changes. Social media have proved their power during the outbreak of revolution in Arab countries, but now they have emerged as a factor that influences developments in society. Their effects began with the increase of political knowledge. Developments in Egypt showed that although a superficial peace can be ordered by imposing limitations on political-social space, such measures never stop the development of opposition in other forms and other spaces. The case of Egypt is an example whereby cutting mobile communication and Internet speed and filtering specific websites are all nothing but passive measures that cannot manage the movements. When Internet access is limited by the government, the first question people ask is, what could possibly have been on the Internet that made the government cut it? The limitation imposed increases the eagerness of the public to learn about what is going on in society via the Internet, which leads to the development of political knowledge. A common point regarding all the countries under study is the trend in human progress, which can be measured by the increase in the number of literate people and those receiving higher education. This trend leads to an increase in awareness and expectations. The increase in literacy in Iranian and Arab societies during the last 30 years is quite evident and it has coincided with the information and communication revolution that has increased access to information at the international level and familiarisation with people’s way of life in other places. Development of the Internet, satellite TV and mobile phones has eliminated the traditional gaps between people in one country and those in another. The corruption of rulers can no longer be concealed from the public. As they learn about how developed countries are ruled and how people in these countries live, people in developing countries are asking why their rich natural resources (such as oil) do not bring them a minimum level of economic and social welfare, while their rulers have a luxurious lifestyle. Raising such questions in social media grabs the attention of other users and from there the attention of the general public. Any question that is frequently asked in the public mind and finds no reasonable answer can lead to revolution. It is evident then that the imposition of limitations on social media – a common practice in Iran, Saudi Arabia and even Bahrain – is the result of fear that questions will be asked and of the synergy of public power.

At any rate, the role of foreign actors and media in these public movements is undeniable. It is clear for those studying the Syrian crisis as a case in point that a number of social network pages are actually collecting information for intelligence purposes, rather than for the public sharing of that information, while foreign countries never miss any chance to add fuel to the flames. This specific interest in Syria is rooted in the fact that the country is one of the last hopes for the West to regain its lost power in the region. In this situation, the role of information literacy is emphasised by recognising the difference between reliable and fake news. Here, the new concept of ‘media literacy’ emerges, which is the ability to combine and analyse such information.

Information literacy education in developing countries

For the countries of the Middle East, information literacy education is absolutely critical. Under the permanent threat of Western powers’ bringing down governments and taking control of natural resources, the Middle Eastern countries need, more than any others, to inform their people. Otherwise, the people in these countries are easily attracted to superficially intellectual and showy messages from the West with the aim of bringing down their governments. The main way to transfer the skills needed to use information and enable the citizen to live in the information society is information literacy education. The value of such education lies in the fact that a proper programme can be designed to be implemented in a proper way to achieve preset goals. In comparison with trial and error, which is prescribed by some to gain experience, the information education system is far more effective. In the absence of such education, people tend to waste a great deal of valuable energy and time, which is surely unacceptable in the competitive world of rapid change. Thus the first steps to information literacy education to be taken by the Middle East countries are as follows:

What is expected to result from taking these four steps is at least that no further revolution will take place and there will be a chance to resolve problems step by step. A review of the role of the dictators in Arab countries shows they use their power to control and suppress rather than as servants of the public to improve the livelihoods of their people. On the other hand, when the government has been weakened following the development of social media and other international changes, the system of suppression stands no chance and the increasing trend of denying the facts together with the growth of public dissatisfaction accelerate the pace of events. Given the experience among Islamic countries of being colonised by Western powers, the behaviour of Western leaders intensifies hatred towards the government. While dictatorships do not hesitate to employ the latest military technology from the West to suppress opposition, they impose limitations on the utilisation of other Western technologies, such as social media, under the pretext of protecting their culture and religion. Revolution is one of the consequences of this paradox. Needless to say, when civic institutes and social services bodies are weak there is no hope of society’s regaining its true identity. By limiting the meaning and function of the state to suppression, what the state is left to deal with is a ‘population’ rather than a ‘citizen’. This population is familiar with fear rather than loyalty. With fear the only gift of the government to the public, it is the underground and secret groups that have the capacity to fill the power gap when the government is weakened and its grip is loosened. This leads to anarchy and disorder and eventually revolution. Being headless was mentioned earlier as an advantage in the revolutions in Arab countries. However, in 2014 as this book is being written, the results of many of these revolutions is not clear, although one may conclude that the lack of a leader with political, informational and media literacy is why the revolutions have been misled. That is, where once it was an advantage, in the early days of the revolutions, being headless now is their weak point. Still, the utilisation of modern technologies is an unprecedented and exciting experience which has not as yet played out. The social media are still evolving and are continually taking new forms and aspects. These changes and the dynamism involved double the influence of the media and cover more and more groups of people. The effect of the social media is not limited to politics: areas such as the economy, commerce, recruitment, employment, support for customer rights, family, violence, accidents, civil laws, the fight against racial/sex discrimination, the struggle against crime and corruption, and support for transparency and responsiveness are included. People in Arab countries are observing the formation of a new world in which different laws take precedence, while new groups of people emerge that take control of the country for short periods of time. In short, one may say that any headless phenomenon is doomed to fail and Arab people have no reason, at least in the short run, to be happy with their revolution.

Media literacy and critical thinking

Having failed to control the accelerating developments in media and information technology, the target groups of the messages propagated by the media must expect deeper and more problematic changes in the future, as signals of such changes can already be seen.

Without media literacy it is not possible to make a proper selection among the messages received. In this regard, educational, civic and media institutions must improve media literacy to enable those addressed to have a deeper perception of what they hear, watch and read. People without media literacy are the main victims of the media industry, while others with such literacy are well aware of the media’s tricks and are capable of reaching better judgements regarding their environment. The latter group is more effective in leading a revolution back on track. However, expecting a large portion of society to be equipped with media literacy is not realistic, as gaining such literacy needs a large set of skills which ordinary people do not possess. Still, the elites of society at least must develop media literacy. This is achievable when critical thinking in the people and the habit of accepting criticism in the government are developed. The term ‘critical thinking’ within the scope of media literacy has been noted by authors such as Worsnop (1989). People in the Arab countries under study complain that any criticism of their former government was countered, while they did not permit any criticism of their political party. This is one of the reasons why these revolutions take too long to accomplish. Those with media literacy tend not to accept whatever they see in the media and adopt a critical thinking stance – which is the key to media literacy – to analyse and evaluate what they hear and see. By ‘critical thinking’ we mean a process of checking and examining the authenticity and accuracy of information. To obtain this ability, one needs to avoid all cognitive mistakes and evaluate the authenticity and content of the information without prejudice or any influence from popular figures in society. In this way one can tell real news from fake. Critical thinking is one of the key elements of a liberal education that prepares people to take part in a dynamic society. One of the serious problems in Arab and Middle East countries that has guaranteed the survival of dictatorships in these countries is a lack of critical thinking among the people. Historical experience in different parts of the globe shows that through political choices not based on critical thinking the masses have always supported dictators. Critical thinking equips people to recognise populist and fake promises from the politicians and also avoid thoughtless adherence to others. The question here is whether social media have managed to improve critical thinking in Arab countries in such a short period. The answer is negative. People in Arab countries still lack critical thinking. They have used the social media as a place to express their criticism anonymously, as when a child breaks a window and runs away. This phenomenon can even pose a threat, as when anonymous people use the freedom to express radical opinions to join with and mislead others. Therefore, there is a lack of critical thinking in Arab countries and they have a long way to go to achieve media literacy. Here we need a measurement standard. To evaluate critical thinking among the Arab users of social media in the countries under study, a questionnaire with three factors and 14 indicators was designed; the results were as expected. The point obtained in all the countries under study was below the mean point, except in Tunisia, which is probably due to the education system in that country. Needless to say, more studies in this field are required. The results showed that Libya was at the bottom of the ranking of critical thinking by a significant margin. Again, the strict controls of Gaddafi’s regime, which even influenced the education system of the country by dictating the content of textbooks, was to blame. Another feature of such an education system is a non-deductive curriculum based on memorisation, as is the case in Iran. It may be interesting for the readers of this book in Western countries that many university professors and students in Arab countries and Iran are proud of the extent of the content they have memorised, the books they have translated or philosophical books they have read. When acting and criticism are rejected, not even the development of social media can add to media literacy. New technologies are just new ways and opportunities for quasi-intellectual minds to show off, while the true opportunities of the technology are never discovered. This has been the case in Iran, according to the author’s over twenty years of experience in the Iranian education system. With regard to the Arab countries, 61% of the respondents on average highlighted the non-deductive curriculum programming in schools and universities as the reason for the lack of critical thinking in these countries. This lack clearly explains the underdeveloped media literacy in these countries. To be recognised as having good characteristics is not enough to be a leader in a democratic country, which also needs insightful individuals capable of leading society. In fact, every individual with critical thinking is a leader. Living in society entails knowledge and the ability to express analytical criticism regarding social norms, culture, government systems, laws and social rules. Even the culture must avoid remaining stable and unchanged, as insightful citizens push through cultural changes. On the other hand, rulers in Arab countries tend to rely on their countries’ several thousand years of rich culture to mislead the minds of the ctizens. The fact is that not even several thousand years of culture is enough to meet the needs of modern citizens. Realising the ideals of a democratic system depends on cultural development, social justice, the rule of law and the prosperity of mankind, which come about through bringing up citizens with the capability of critical thinking and analysing.

In addition to non-deductive bases of curriculum planning in the countries under study, there is another factor to the lack of media literacy – monopoly of the media. Generally, media literacy in developed countries is far more widespread and valued than in the third world or developing countries. A plurality of mass media is not the norm in developing countries and given that all messages are delivered by a few media from one source, media literacy is neglected. The monopoly of the regime over the mass media and the reluctance of rulers to improve media literacy are also common in developing countries and even the slightest movement in this regard is basically aimed at magnifying the voice of the ruler rather than developing media literacy. As a standard practice in developing countries, the movement toward the improvement of media literacy is actually aimed at influencing the messages delivered by foreign media and internal media are excluded; the internal media are presented as free of any error and it is only to resist the cultural invasion that people must be armed with media literacy.

The next point to mention is the role of media censorship in eliminating the need for media literacy. Arab governments and Iranian rulers, as a common practice, censor the news before it is broadcast, so the public no longer needs media literacy. However, with the emergence of the social media, the rulers have lost their grip on the media and now emphasise media literacy to fight back the invasion of enemies through social media. It is at this point that the actual process of media literacy is initiated, although its main purpose is to prop up the ruling system rather than improve public awareness. Doubtlessly censorship is also practised in Western countries, including the USA, but it is different from that in Arab countries, because students in the West are familiar with information literacy and critical thinking from an early age. Censorship of any kind in Arab countries triggers a specific type of analysis, based on the monopoly of the regime over the mass media, resulting in deeper mistrust of the system in society. On the other hand, censorship in the West never conveys the same meaning and in the worst cases people tend to blame the media, rather than the whole system. Loss of public trust in the state-run media prompts the public to refer to foreign media for news and information. Although, by doing this, they receive more reliable and authentic news and analysis, they risk a threat to their original culture and even to their religion and traditional roots. In this way one may conclude that self-censorship in Arab countries is one of the main factors in the rapid penetration of social media in the Arab countries’ revolutions. Self-censorship is a sort of naturally preventive measure, which has mutated into a self-destructive measure with the advance of social media. Finding a neutral media with no dependency on any specific group and without censorship is almost impossible. As a result of the effects of political concerns on the mass media in Arab countries, group interests have overshadowed the interests of the wider society. At any rate, the social media are more or less semi-independent. Independent and critical media act as a safety valve and fulfil a critical role in the security and development of a country. Such media also support the ruling system against political, cultural and legitimacy threats, while preventing the accumulation of unmet demands among the public which may result in public riot. A committed media must work in favour of national and public interests by neglecting individual, group and party interests. Such media in Arab countries may convey to those who plunder the oil wealth how their actual interests are guaranteed by serving the public interest. The mass media in Arab countries are mainly state-run, while the outlook for media freedom is not promising. While Egypt is ranked by the World Press Freedom Index at 159 among 180 countries, none of the five Arab countries under study here have better conditions and more outbreaks of revolution seem unavoidable. Every member of these societies acts as a journalist who reports the events in a semi-free media.