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Malek Helali
Doha
NATIONALS of a number of MENA countries are less likely to support restrictions on speech criticising government policies than they are of speech that is offensive to one's religion or beliefs, according to the fifth annual survey of media use and public opinion by Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q).
The survey results also show that nearly a quarter of nationals who use the Internet say it increases their contact with people who have political views different than their own.
The study, released on Tuesday, inspects patterns of news use, perceptions of news bias and attitudes toward free speech in seven MENA countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia and Egypt. Some of the survey's questions were replicated in the United States of America for comparison purposes.
"At a challenging time in the region and around the world, we offer these findings as impartial data for use in much-needed, considered discussion and understanding of the current media environment," said Everette E Dennis, dean and CEO of NU-Q.
Among the survey's key findings was that two-thirds of nationals get news on smartphones everyday and half watch news videos on a smartphone daily, while television viewership should be finally showing signs of decline as Internet penetration continues to rise.
However, while trust in the news media is high across the Middle East, it remains significantly less on social media. According to the study, two-thirds of MENA residents trust mass media, but fewer than half trust news they get via social media.
"These results suggest that while social media may provide an avenue for more freedom of expression, many remain reluctant to fully embrace that opportunity. Still, it should be mentioned that seeds of the Arab Spring are evident in social media use, disputing claims that its imprint is long gone and forgotten,"Dennis added.
Interestingly, the study found that Americans are more likely than nationals in most countries surveyed to say that international news coverage is biased against the Arab world.
The survey conducted from 2013 to 2015 is the largest annual study of its kind in the Middle East. Findings reflect nationally representative samples of over 1,000 respondents in each country, 7,196 in total. Interviews were conducted face-to-face in most countries, and via telephone in Qatar.
