إسهام الصحافة العربية في تحقيق الأمن البيئي العربي : دراسة ميدانية تحليلية

الملخص EN

At the turn of the country, the environment, in all its various aspects, has become one of the urgent key issues on the world s agenda.

Its concept has widened to include many areas, and interest in it is shown not only by individuals but also by governmental, nongovernmental, and international organizations.

Two main points can be noted in this connection.

First, caring for the environment depends on the individual first and foremost.

In other words, environmental laws and organizations cannot be effective nor will their aims be fulfilled unless individuals participate willingly in the process on the basis of an awareness that the cause of the environment is everybody's cause.

The second point is that the role of traditional means of education in raising environmental awareness is becoming less prominent if compared with the role of modern media, in general, and the press, in particular.

In the Arab world, there are serious environmental issues.

These are closely related to political, economic, and social problems, \Vith regional and international dimensions that are increasingly becoming promient.

The aim of this study is to investigate the coverage of environmental issues in daily newspapers in the Arab world and the extent of the contribution of this coverage to Arab environmental awareness and, eventually, to Arab Environmental security.

For this purpose, a sample of six newspapers was used: Al-Jazeerah (Saudi Arabia), Al-Ahram (Egypt), Al-Rai (Jordan), Al-Qabas (Kuwait), Al-Safeer (Lebanon, and Teshreen (Syria).

The year 1996 was chosen for this sample because the coverage then was both extensive and intensive.

In the content analysis, each separate piece of information dealing with an environmental issue is treated as a unit.

These units are grouped according to the generally accepted classification of environmental issues.

The results of quantitative and qualitative analyses of this coverage reveal a number of characteristics.

These include: -a limited interest in environmental issues which is woofully inadequate in the light of the importance, seriousness and weight of these issues; -lack of a clear, coherent and comprehensive strategy behind coverage policy: -emphasis on the news aspect with little analysis, interpretation, and in-depth treatment of environmental problems; -lack of qualified environmental journalists; -concentration on the local and neglect of the regional and the international; -poor presentation; and -inadequate cooperation and coordination with environmental specialists.

In considering these characteristics and others, one finds that problems of environmental coverage in the press and partly procedural and personal and partly structural.

They show an approach to journalistic practice which is mainly impulsive and does not take into consideration the latest developments in the subject and the needs of the readership.

Al the end, the study offers a number of recommendations.

The most important of these is a change of approach, based ona comprehensive strategy.

To formulate such a strategy, it is necessary to hold a pan-Arab conference of experts in different fields (environment, education, economics, etc.).

This needs time, of course.

But there are two urgent measures that Arab press establishments should take now.

The first is to establish close cooperation and coordination with Arab environmental experts, and the second is to train more environmental journalists.

Taking these measures would lessen the intensity of the negative aspects of the press coverage of environmental issues and make newspapers better at contributing effectively to Arab environmental security.