Dubai: The topic of discussion for assembled experts at the third session of the Arab Media Forum was ‘Image of the Arab citizen after recent popular uprisings'.
An opinion survey of Western opinion leaders showed that they were intently following the developments in the Arab world, with most of them expressing optimism that the renewed states will not be affected by religious extremism, the panel was told.
New York-based independent correspondent Joe Lauria said such an image of Arab political expression is extraordinary considering the long history of Western ignorance about Arabs.
"These were people and families putting their lives on the line because they were finally fed up with dictators. They are not that different from us", he said.
Professor of Journalism and Public Diplomacy, Philip Seib, however, warned against taking the results of the opinion survey too seriously.
"I think there is still a tremendous reservoir of negativity towards Arabs and Muslims, which requires an aggressive effort on the part of Arab diplomacy," he said.
Octavia Nasr, founder of Bridges Media Consulting, said she does not believe that Arab media institutions changed the view of the Westerners toward the Arabs. They watch very few of them, she said.
"During the Arab uprisings, the images used by the media were uploaded by ordinary Arab citizens who participated in revolutions. I feel this is a lesson to be learnt by the media", she said.
Jacque Charmelot, a 25-year-old Middle East correspondent for the Agence France Press, said the West needs to understand the complexity of the situation in the Arab world and stop looking at it like a single entity.
"I think the great majority of Egyptians don't care whether someone outside looks at what's happening in Cairo in a positive or not. They like to make sure that next year they have better education, more jobs and food on the plate. This is what they expect from their leaders. This is their concern. What we think is not," he said.
Abdullah Bozkurt, Bureau Chief for Today's Zaman, Turkey's best-selling English daily, said Turkey was in the middle of an identity crisis between Europe and Middle East.
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