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Danger of 'knowledge gap' in the Middle East, warns International Media Council chair

Despite a recent increase in citizen-generated content and wider spread internet access, there is the danger of a 'knowledge gap' in the Middle East, the chairman of the NCF International Council for Press and Broadcasting has warned.

William Morris, an expert on Arab affairs, told an industry gathering that he feared parts of the region were operating in an 'internet black hole,' which prevented the population from accessing and sharing information.

"In Iraq, for example, many landlines in the country have been down since the war,” he said, at Monday's Voices Online Blogging Conference, organised by the Next Century Foundation (NCF).

"There are some seminal Iraqi bloggers, like Salam Pax. But the average Iraqi uses [the internet on] a mobile phone. It is a vacuum for conventional internet for the ordinary population.”


Morris said the difficulties of digital engagement in the Middle East were compounded by the fact that only 0.4 per cent of the web's content is written in Arabic.

He added that social media, such as Twitter, can 'accelerate misinformation' in countries that are not well represented by traditional news organisations.

Blogger Potkin Azarmehr, who created his website because he was 'fed up with the nonsense given to English speaking media about Iran', also warned that blogs and online communities can become 'elitist' in parts of the world where broadband access is restricted by the government.

"These are countries where people have to spend all their time going about making a living to make ends meet," he said. "Only 20 per cent of the population [in Iran] are internet users, so it is very hard to move out of an elitist circle."

Azarmehr added, however, that he believed the number of bloggers in the region had 'increased significantly' in the last year, despite the risk of arrest.

"There are ways of overcoming the restrictions, like proxies and software, but these are not yet widespread," he said.

Journalism.co.uk  reported live from the Voices Online Blogging conference 2009. Follow @journalism_live on Twitter for updates from media events.

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blogging | citizen journalism | social media | middle east | salam pax | voices online blogging conference 2009 | william morris |

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