Mediaboss Marketing

One of the enduring images of the final days of the Libyan civil war was Sky News reporting live from inside rebel trucks as they swept into Tripoli and finally ended Muammar Gaddafis stranglehold on the country.

The rebels were eager to engage with the international media to get their message out when they were fighting for freedom. Now that they are in power, the same media has started to scrutinise them and their policies, which is something the new temporary government initially found hard to deal with.

Their concerns, and how best to create a modern media framework, were some of the issues raised when a delegation from the National Transitional Council (NTC) met in Doha at Northwestern University Qatars campus to debate the issues and try and decide on how best to move forward.

After four decades of autocratic rule, Libya is now in a position to create an independent, national media system that meets the needs of its people, Abdulhafeedh Ghoga, vice chairman of the NTC and head of delegation, said at the time. These principles and action items will serve as guideposts as we seek to put in place the type of media environment required by a vibrant, modern state.

In January, Ghogas resignation made global headlines, something that Everette E Dennis, Dean and CEO of Northwestern University Qatar (NU-Q), says demonstrates how important the future of Libya is regarded internationally.

The departure of the vice president of a transitional government wouldnt have made a ripple [a few years ago] but now it is up there. People are watching these things.

The Libyan experience was fostered by cultivation work we were doing in the region and looking around at what was happening post-Arab Spring. It was evident Libya was the perfect case... Basically a devastated institution and infrastructure, it was a basket case and a place where all media was state-owned and not a lot was happening, Dennis says of the creation of the think tank designed to aid the new Libyan government.

What we talked about was some of the principles of why you need freedom of expression and what that helps a country do and match that up with what models might work. Is it going to be a private-sector model? Is it going to be a public service BBC-version model or some kind of state model, which is what they have now? So we worked through those.

Article continued on next page

See the article here:
Rebels with a cause