Monday, May 14, 2012

Revamped Media in Libya

The Libyan media is no longer run by the former dictator, Mummar Gaddafi. Libya's media was controlled tightly for forty years. Mummar Gaddafi controlled the media outlets during his rule. The media were required to convey what Mummar Gaddafi approved of. There are many stories regarding his dealing with the Libyan media. Muhammad El-Huni a news anchor on Al-Libya TV shared a frightening situation with the former dicator Gaddafi. Muhammad El-Huni told Al Jazeera news channel, that Al-Libya TV aired a segment regarding a relationship between Egypt, and Hezbollah. After that segment aired, Mummar Gaddafi made a 2am trip to the news station, and interrogated everyone in the news room.

After the fall of Mummar Gaddafi, the media outlets in Libya became free. They no longer had to deal with stringent requirements for the news they presented. But, the media were in a uncomfortable environment. The Libyan media were instructed for forty years, and now they have absolutely no direction. Many Libyan people wants to participate in news stories. They are presenting different stories through facebook, and twitter. Surprisingly, the Libyan people are taking the news from these social media outlets. The Libyan people are believing people whose credentials are unknown.

Zapita whose a journalist, described the new direction of the Libyan media. "It was very frustrating being a writer in a state-owned, state-controlled publication. As soon as the revolution happened, I wanted to start my own newspaper, be my own boss." Zapita continues, "We're starting from a void... We're starting from zero- that is a challenge. There hasn't been a tradition of a free, independent press for, some would say, roughly 40 years. So we don't have that tradition, that culture. And that'ts not easy, building a tradition, a culture, overnight."

So how will the Libyan people receive their news? When will the media outlets in Libya recover from the fall of Mummar Gaddafi. Check Al-Jazeera news for the answers. 

1 comment:

  1. The Al Jazeera article on "Building Libya's new media 'from a void'" that you link to at the end is certainly a good source of information about the country's rapid transition from state-run news to citizen journalism. But your intro could perhaps be stronger and less tied to background information. Audiences also expect more information about the speaker's expertise to be conveyed in the way that they write news stories. If you read Arabic, some analysis of relevant Facebook and Twitter postings might be interesting. Stay tuned for more on the subject, since next week we will have VJ Um Amel in to speak about social media and the Arab Spring.

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