(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Dr Rabeea bin Sabah Al Kuwari | Assistant Professor of Journalism at Qatar University
A serious issue, which should not be tolerated, is happening today at a time when we must be united against the true enemies of the nation.
With the onset of the siege against Qatar, the issue of spreading hatred through social media sites has emerged in the GCC region. Everyone, while expressing opinion, defends the position of his country in a manner that the truth is absent instead of giving his own fair opinion on the issue.
Now the crisis has become an issue to polarise the people into various parties instead of uniting them and the people of each country are expressing opinion from the point of view of the state they hold their nationality or in a racist manner. Even if they are right or wrong, the disaster occurred here.
The social networks were developed to breathe freely and freely express the views available to all. However, this attitude has transformed these networks from platforms meant to spread credibility and objectivity in the presentation of views to platforms of fabrication and invention of false news and dissemination of rumours to damage countries and political symbols and mainstream media.
It turned the websites to spread insults in away seems to be far from the high values and ethics of the societies where brothers are insulting their cousins in other countries, and neighbours have began to stab their nearest neighbours and brothers as if the World War III has begun.
The blockading countries Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have contributed to spreading sedition and promoting hatred against Qatar so that no one can trust his brother or his relative after all these negative impacts of the crisis, even after it ends.
Whatever is being circulated on social networking sites are being published on newspapers and their websites today. The electronic media - TV Channels - of siege countries are still airing fake news, reports and talks in an exaggerated manner in a bid to spread rumours, fabricated pictures and footage purposely to tarnish the image of Qatar and those supporting its standing.
Notably, there are thousands of bogus accounts on social media that are working with extreme hostility among our countries (GCC) unnecessarily. And the first and last loser is the GCC citizen who was sidelined in this crisis and contributing in spreading this culture of hate among us unexpectedly.
There are many negative impacts of electronic media on GCC citizens in the absence of rationality fuelled by misleading information obviously from blockading countries and their silence on this problem that led to break the social fabric of GCC countries. The GCC states were united but the differences were created among the people without any benefit.
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