ABSTRACT
In discussing the new developments in Arab Spring countries, this chapter looks at three things: what the media environment was like in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen before the revolutions, what changes those revolutions have brought about, and – assuming these countries actually desire an independent fourth estate – what changes need to happen. Four years after the uprisings, the media landscape has become a gladiatorial ring, with the various gladiators wreaking bloody havoc in an effort to capture the ring and win over the audiences. The laws intended to muzzle the media contravened at least ten articles of Egypt's former constitution. The only legal political organization was the National Union and all Egyptian media organizations had to cede ownership. Following the uprisings of early 2011, observers and practitioners of Arab media expected to see an unsurpassed, unfettered freedom and a flowering of the environment. The Islamists had also moved to consolidate their grip on the state media.
