{"id":194,"date":"2009-04-07T17:44:42","date_gmt":"2009-04-07T14:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/?p=194"},"modified":"2009-04-07T17:44:42","modified_gmt":"2009-04-07T14:44:42","slug":"qatari-tensions-rise-over-press-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/qatari-tensions-rise-over-press-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Qatari tensions rise over press freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ft.com\/cms\/s\/0\/e2e51462-22ff-11de-9c99-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1\">FT.com \/ Middle East \/ Politics &amp; Society &#8211; Qatari tensions rise over press freedom<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ft-story-header\">\n<h2>Qatari tensions rise over press freedom<\/h2>\n<p>By Robin Wigglesworth in Doha<\/p>\n<p>Published: April 7 2009 00:33 | Last updated: April 7 2009 00:33<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"ft-story-body\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\nfunction floatContent(){var paraNum = \"3\"\nparaNum = paraNum - 1;var tb = document.getElementById('floating-con');var nl = document.getElementById('floating-target');if(tb.getElementsByTagName(\"div\").length&gt; 0){if (nl.getElementsByTagName(\"p\").length&gt;= paraNum){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(\"p\")[paraNum]);}else {if (nl.getElementsByTagName(\"p\").length == 3){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(\"p\")[2]);}else {nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName(\"p\")[0]);}}}}<\/script><\/p>\n<div id=\"floating-target\" class=\"clearfix\">\n<p>Qatar is not known for political spats and controversy but a publicly aired argument between the Doha Centre for Media Freedom and its political sponsors has recently livened up the peninsula.<\/p>\n<p>On the eve of last month\u2019s opening of the Qatar Science and Technology Park \u2013 a flagship royally sponsored project \u2013 the centre sent an incendiary open letter to its sponsor, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, the wife of the emir.<\/p>\n<p>In the missive, the centre lambasted the authorities for failing to issue a visa to an Afghan journalist before he was killed in the war-torn country. It blamed \u201cpeople close\u201d to Sheikha Mozah for doing their utmost to \u201cdisrupt our efforts, trying by all possible means to restrict our independence and our freedom to speak and act, and therefore our credibility\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The letter highlighted the escalating tension between the centre \u2013 founded by Robert M\u00e9nard, formerly of Paris-based Reporters Without Borders \u2013 and its paymasters over the state of the country\u2019s media. Qatar\u2019s perceived lethargy in reforming and modernising its 1979 press laws and improving conditions for its domestic journalists has been the main bone of contention.<\/p>\n<p>Qatar has been praised for its financial and political support of al-Jazeera, the television news network that has covered controversial regional affairs, and the Doha Debates, a frank and uncensored discussion of Arab and Muslim affairs.<\/p>\n<p>Yet the relative freedom of al-Jazeera and the Doha Debates stand in sharp contrast to the continued system of direct and indirect censorship of the domestic media industry, say local journalists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s right to distinguish between the local and international media,\u201d says a senior journalist based in Doha. \u201cThey want to project Qatar to the world but the local press isn\u2019t nearly as free as the international media.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Qatari press laws stipulate prison sentences for a host of offences, including criticising religion, the army and the royal family. Most companies are directly or indirectly linked to the government, Qatari royalty or a powerful family, and can exert huge pressure on media outlets to stick to positive news.<\/p>\n<p>On an individual level, journalists are pressured into self-censorship. Most are expatriates and their employers hold on to their passports, with many called in for questioning by the police when they displease the authorities or powerful private interests.<\/p>\n<p>In sum, it amounts to an informal but effective form of censorship, says Mr M\u00e9nard. \u201cIt\u2019s practically impossible to criticise government policy &#8230; The Qatari press law is both obsolete and repressive,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Qatari journalists are not the only ones in the Gulf labouring under archaic laws. The United Arab Emirates mandates prison sentences for \u201charming\u201d the economy, and a new draft law, which has yet to be signed by the UAE president, abolishes prison terms but maintains stiff fines.<\/p>\n<p>In Saudi Arabia, the threat of prison sentences and a tight leash on media proprietors ensures pervasive self-censorship by journalists.<\/p>\n<p>With the exception of Israel, Lebanon, Kuwait and Egypt, US-based think-tank Freedom House ranks the media in every country in the Middle East and north Africa as \u201cnot free\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In Qatar, even al-Jazeera is not as free as it likes to portray it is, says Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud, editor in chief of the Al-Arab newspaper and a former employee of the network. \u201cAl-Jazeera doesn\u2019t talk about local Qatari issues. If they did, they\u2019d have the same issues as everyone else,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Sheikha Mozah\u2019s office declined to comment on the centre\u2019s allegations, but the authorities have indicated that they will allow the formation of a journalists\u2019 trade union and will ratify the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights \u2013 which deals with freedom of opinion, expression and information.<\/p>\n<p>However, the centre is frustrated with the sluggishness of the authorities, and will leave if Qatar does not pass an improved press law, says Mr M\u00e9nard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no way &#8230; we can criticise other countries in the region while letting Qatar lag behind on press freedom matters,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would have no credibility, and I can\u2019t accept that.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>via FT.com \/ Middle East \/ Politics &amp; Society &#8211; Qatari tensions rise over press freedom. Qatari tensions rise over press freedom By Robin Wigglesworth in Doha Published: April 7 2009 00:33 | Last updated: April 7 2009 00:33 Qatar is not known for political spats and controversy but a publicly aired argument between the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totheeast.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}