What is the best way for Arab media to promote regional peace?

Mohammad Gohar, Common Ground News Service -- Partners in Humanity, Cairo

Arab-American relations have reached a critical stage. Misconceptions, on both sides of the divide, threaten to undermine the desires of mainstream citizens for peace, stability and democratic progression. Mass media in the Middle East, and the broadcast sector in particular, stand the greatest chance of helping bridge the gap of understanding and repair some of the damage caused by decades of agenda-laden, biased media platforms.

The time has come for a new localized voice in media, committed to the production and support of sustained peace in the region.

Citizens in the Middle East are beginning to grow accustomed to concepts such as democratization, modernization, community development, and the war against terrorism. Great strides have been made toward opening the minds of Arabs to a future of greater political and economic potential. But at what point will regional media outlets link the very concept of "peace" to this new mindset? It has not happened so far, yet it must if we are ever to achieve peace.

Recent political trends in the region have given broadcasters an opportunity to introduce greater professionalism into their coverage. Governmental reform means more freedom for journalists to fulfill their obligations as providers of information, context and understanding. Journalists can now prepare stories faster, more accurately, and in greater depth than ever before. They can even inform the region of political developments once considered taboo by the establishment -- progressive projects such as the Qualified Industrial Jones Agreement between Israel and Egypt, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the Egypt-Israeli Tourism Agreement and others.

Given this new framework, how can we best promote peace itself as a fundamental right of all Arab citizens? Political parties have an obligation to support peace initiatives, both in their own communications departments, and by fostering a more open public discussion of its value and necessity.

This should not only be done in the abstract; peace must also be incorporated into all categories of dialogue, from economic growth to foreign investment to development projects to public infrastructure. Confrontational posturing must be abandoned in exchange for building a psychological linkage between peace and prosperity.

Before this can happen, an accurate study of popular opinion, with specific respect to the peace process, must be conducted, providing a clear picture of audience viewpoints. This should be done from the street, and must result in a thorough categorization based upon age, gender, income brackets, social background and geography.

One cannot begin to persuade an audience without first knowing the audience. Based on this gathered data, a team can formulate a new mechanism for approaching mass media outlets and framing messages towards specific, target demographics.

Without the ability to target people with accuracy, words of peace will continue to fall on deaf ears. Likewise, content must be crafted towards specific platforms -- satellite broadcasting, as an example, is a far different animal than terrestrial radio, and simple re-versioning of material does not get the message through. Different venues call for different approaches.

In bringing this message to media outlets, we must ask some crucial questions: Are the current public-relations apparatuses sufficient? Are we satisfied with the level of public response we've seen to the peace process? If not, perhaps the time has come for a new, dedicated mechanism and vantage point from which to build support.

However, any new approach must take into full account the diversity of media platforms facing Arab consumers now and in the immediate future: Satellite broadcasting, terrestrial television, radio broadcasts, print journals, Internet hubs including blogs and news servers, mobile phone media platforms, and street advertisements. Only a cross-media approach has a chance of achieving the kind of audience penetration necessary for sustained peace building.

We cannot discuss a fresh approach to media without raising the issue of finance. It is a well-reported fact that terrorists and fundamentalist factions have invested far more in mass media than their "moderate" counterparts have. As media become increasingly privatized, the door is opened for investment from any source with desire and capital.

But without a counterbalancing influx of investment from the right sources, viewpoints expressed throughout pan-Arab media will continue to skew towards counterproductive ideologies. Audiences in the Middle East today are treated more for their capacities as consumers than as human beings, and so are spoken to in a language that speaks to their quickest impulses, and not their intellectual potential.

This trend can only be reversed by private investment stemming from responsible sources having a vested interest in peace. Today, mainstream media often operate as an obstacle, inhibiting an open discussion of the peace process by promoting an oppositional mindset predicated on illusion.

To create an influx of private, responsible media investment in the region, we must consider two phases. Firstly, private media entrepreneurs will depend on startup assistance from U.S. development agencies, European foundations and Japanese aid -- mainly through diplomatic support and partnership. Private firms committed to peace-building must be given the backup they need to succeed.

Secondly, and more critical towards creating a sustainable business model, a new mechanism of advertising revenue must be introduced to private media. The largest sources of industrial advertising in the Middle East, among which are many U.S.-based multinational corporations, must be able to purchase direct market access, and they must be able to do this independently of the current, dominant regional advertising firms.

In this way, responsible private media will be rewarded with sustained capital from advertising revenue, and regional ad- brokers (whose imperative it is to stifle the creation of progressive media -- will be bypassed. The result of this new mechanism can be a Qualified Media Zone, a protected umbrella beneath which private media can operate under the best professional ideals and, through privatized practices, foster a democratic future in the Middle East.

Mohammad Gohar is the CEO of Video Cairo Sat.