Page 82 - Cyberculture and New Media

Mahmoud Eid 73
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country to the other affects the culture and cultural industries in the recipient
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country.”
International communication expanded markedly during the first
th
half of the 20 century through wireless communication and broadcasting
technologies. A new paradigm began to emerge in the 1960s, when a series of
innovations in the field of telecommunications provoked a second explosive
expansion of international communication. Most noteworthy was the
invention of fiber optic cables and geo-stationary communication satellites,
which were increasingly developed into global networks under the auspices
of international organizations such as Intelsat and the International
st
Telecommunications Union. At the start of the 21 century, a borderless
media system has developed whose backbone is a global communication
network comprising fiber optic pipes and TV broadcast satellites. Its
expansion is driven by the internationalization – or to use the popular term,
globalization – of media markets following deregulation and a worldwide
integration of the media industry. Global communication adds to the flow of
information, networks of communication and systems of exchange. As such,
a new international communication paradigm is emerging. The information
technology revolution has further deepened the integration between
computing, telecommunications, and electronic media. Outcomes of this
process include the digitization of broadcasting systems and the emergence of
new digital media. A transnational media order is coming into being that is
re-mapping media spaces and involving new media practices, flows, and
products. The new media are opening up public access to international
communication. The World Wide Web gives instant access to international
content, and e-mails facilitate interpersonal communication across borders.
These tools are more individual-centred and are less government-controlled
than old pathways to international communication. Digitization and the new
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media have led to a democratization of international communication.

3. Democratization: Major Obstacles in the Arab World
In the era of globalization, with increasing reliance on the
information society and new media, healthier environments for democracy
have become a necessity. Democracy cannot survive without the
achievement, and maintenance, of a set of preconditions. For any political
system to be democratic, there has to be a considerable understanding
amongst the populace of the process of democratization. Democracy
presupposes that citizens have achieved self-discipline and political tolerance,
without which it cannot survive. Popular participation is an indispensable part
of a democratic system. Public deliberation is essential to democracy, to
ensure that the public’s policy preferences – upon which democratic
decisions are based – are informed, enlightened, and authentic. Democracy
requires the construction of a vibrant, vigorous, and pluralistic civil society.