Media figures gathered to discuss the role of media in Arab society at the Arab Media Leaders Forum, reports Nabil Abu Shal at Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The second meeting took place at Egypt's Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA). BA Director Ismael Serag Eddin called for the Arab world to catch up with societies that are taking advantage of technology and media development. He pointed out that the Arab world is “technology-consuming” rather than “knowledge-producing.”

Forum participants also discussed the relationship between the state and the media. Galal Dwidar, the Secretary General for Egypt's Supreme Council of Journalism, maintained that the relationship requires mutual respect and a guarantee for the media's freedom of expression. The head of the Dar al-Helal publishing house suggested legalizing the freedom of media access and training media workers. Other participants suggested forming independent councils to manage government media outlets.

At the site of the Arab Media Leaders Forum meeting, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his son Gamal Mubarak spoke out against a blogger's killing, reports Amro Hassan at the LA Times Babylon and Beyond blog. 28-year-old Khaled Saied was allegedly beaten to death by two officers in Alexandria. After protests in Cairo and Alexandria and a rebuke from Amnesty International, Mahmoud Salah and Awad Ismail Suleiman were charged with illegal arrest and using torture and brutality.

“Justice must take its course, and this applies to the case of the death of Egyptian citizen Khaled Saied in Alexandria, especially after the prosecutor general referred the accused to court,” said Mubarak. “The party insists on the accountability of any wrongdoer within the framework of justice, transparency and the rule of the law.” Mubarak's words come as a surprise as the Egyptian government has generally repressed the press through the emergency law.

Hala Mustafa, a member of Egypt's National Democratic Party, told Reuters that Mubarak's words represented a turning point in the relationship between the state and the media. “The statement, which is the first of its kind, signals that mounting pressure and political awareness in Egypt have reached a new level capable of pushing the political reform process forward,” he commented.

Despite the events of the conference and Mubarak's call for justice, media experts are generally pessimistic about the state of the media and free expression in the Middle East, reports Arabian Business. “Unfortunately during the last four to five years the opposite [of improvement] has happened,” lamented Wadah Khanfar, Al-Jazeera's Director General. Post-GWOT, he pointed out, “Arab governments started going back and coming up with new regulations and laws.”

The Al-Jazeera network has been criticized by Arab governments. In fact, Bahraini authorities banned the Qatar-based Arab news channel for “flouting” press laws in the Gulf state. Other media outlets, reporters and commentators have been repressed and imprisoned by government officials. According to Freedom House's 2009 media study, none of the countries in the Middle East are ranked as having a “free press.” The report additionally concluded that 79 percent of the fifteen Middle Eastern countries were “not free” in terms of press freedom.

“In the last few years there has been confusion [over] issues of freedom of expression,” Khanfar continued. “As long as our governments are not convinced that free media could help in developing society and as long as they see us [as] potential recruits for their propaganda, and as long as there are journalists around who will seek grants from governments to act on their behalf and to deceive and to dis-inform, I think we are going to have a problem,” the Al-Jazeera director general concluded.

The case of Tunisian journalist Fahem Boukadous has also attracted international attention. According to Amnesty International, Boukadous was found guilty of “belonging to a criminal association, taking part in a group established to prepare or commit an attack against people or property and spreading information liable to disrupt public order” as a result of his coverage of protests against unemployment and rising living costs in Gafsa.

The journalist is currently in the hospital, suffering from a severe asthmatic condition. "In the coming few hours, the police might come and take me out of the hospital. I am an opinion holder and a defender of rights. I am not scared of the arrest and the prison. What concerns me is my deteriorating health," he told Amnesty International.

The organization claimed that Boukadous' trial was a travesty. Boukadous was too ill to attend his appeal, and his defense lawyer was not permitted to make a statement to the court. "The defense lawyers were hindered at every step, denied the right to call and cross-examine witnesses and in some cases prevented from even addressing the court. The Tunisian courts have piled injustice upon injustice,” asserted Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program.

“This is not a battle for freedom, it is a battle for his life,” added the journalist's lawyer. Amnesty International and the Tunisian journalist's defense team are worried that his imprisonment will have a severe impact on his health, especially if he does not have good medical care in prison.

“Tuesday's session before the Gafsa Court of Appeals was the judicial gloss over an injustice. Tunisians yet again received a chilling warning that if they speak out or simply report independently from the government line, they face serious consequences,” concluded Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.