The Arab media and the protests of Sudan .. phenomenon of health or artificial objectivity?

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Who is following the coverage of the Arab media to the protests in Sudan is surprised by the volume of objectivity and neutrality "relative" in these channels of the events taking place in the Sudanese cities since 19 December last. These demonstrations call for reform and change and the overthrow of the regime after the aggravation of living and economic conditions in the country ruled by President Omar al-Bashir since 1989.

We rarely find a news channel in Arabic today that does not mention in its publications what is happening in the Sudan of mobility and protests. The most striking thing about the Arab media coverage of the events in Sudan is that these channels mention most of the slogans used by demonstrators in the streets, a healthy phenomenon that calls for interaction and joy. Bad record owned by these channels in their coverage of the Arab Spring! This raises questions about the reasons behind the new media policy.

In this media coverage of what Sudan is witnessing, the attention is also drawn to the presence of opposition and pro-political voices. For example, when we watch the coverage of Al-Arabiya, both the news and the news about Sudan, we find the voice of the Sudanese opposition, which demands that Bashir step down and overthrow his regime. We also find the voices of those who support his rule and his regime, as we have pointed out a healthy phenomenon missed by the channels since the outbreak of the Arab Spring after it decided to align with governments and regimes and its attempts to distort the revolutions of peoples and their demands for change and reform. However, we think that this objective coverage of the Arab channels, especially the channels that were later known as objective ones such as Arabic, the event and Sky News, came because of the following reasons:

First, the lessons of the past and the biased and wrong coverage of the demonstrations and revolutions witnessed by the rest of the Arab countries, and the cost of this path of loss of credibility and the decline of the popularity of the Arab street after the distortion of revolutions and full bias regimes and governments that faced these peaceful popular protests.

Second, the high cost of confronting the popular movement witnessed in the Arab world. The channel financed these channels and covered their coverage and media policies. They made a lot of money and carried a lot of burdens in order to thwart the revolutions and preserve the former Arab system. However, after all this finds that the Arab peoples and despite their relative calm, but they are still in the stage of mobility and "silent", so to speak, and that every moment may explode the situation and the revolutions larger than the previous revolutions completely overthrow the traditional Arab system.

For example, the rulers of the UAE and Saudi Arabia (leaders of the anti-popular revolutions) may have realized that their stand against the revolutions of the peoples cost them many years of losses and only bring down the reputation and decline in popularity in the Arab and Islamic streets. Thus, standing on neutrality may be far better than insisting on standing up against the rebellious peoples and engaging in a conflict that can only be stopped at high costs that could lead to fall and fall.

Thirdly , the reason for this relatively objective coverage may be the position of these countries that have these media channels from the Omar al-Bashir regime in Sudan. For example, some consider the UAE and Saudi Arabia to be hostile to the Bashir regime because of its proximity to the Brotherhood and allowing them to exist on Sudanese soil. Thus, the media policy of channels representing this trend continues in its previous approach, which is wanted by the rulers who own these channels and finance them.

In conclusion, we believe that the experience of the Arab Spring was present in every decision taken to determine the position of the media channels of the protests in Sudan and every public event in the Arab world, and therefore the option of objectivity, although relatively speaking, may be the best and least expensive option for all parties. The Sudanese protests may also be the beginning of a new era of relative objectivity in the Arab media after the failure of the previous media policies adopted by some media organizations in their way of dealing with events and developments in the Arab world, especially as they stand completely on the impossibility of preventing the right information to reach the recipient Channels and media as well as the service of social media that have a great impact on the dissemination of awareness and knowledge.