In Western media, technological change and media mergers have focused our attention on the perils of homogenization. How possible is it, we ask ourselves, for journalists to express the local and particular when fewer journalists are available to cover local events and issues? Our journalistic tradition marks the health of democracies by the ability of a free and independent press to speak for, and to, its various audiences about things that matter to them. Noam Chomsky has spilled a great deal of ink over this very issue. In Arab states, media have not participated in the democratic tradition; they have traditionally served as a mouthpiece of power. Ironically, as Western media seem to be losing their grip on first principles, Arab media appear to be discovering their role as agents for political and social change. Do you see these shifts as evolutionary? Are they connected? Or do you see these changes from another point of view?
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