Media Liberation: Popular Demand Faced with Official Challenges

Several civil society and freedom organizations as well as citizens condemned the recent agreement signed by the Arab Information Ministers aiming to impose strict measures and regulations on satellite channels, especially those with national, neutral and independent tendencies, mostly Al-Jazeera, Al-Aqsa and Al-Mannar satellite channels.

Press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB) condemned the agreement which imposes draconian regulations on satellite TV content. The agreement was adopted in Cairo by the information ministers of 21 of the Arab League’s 22 member states. It authorizes governments to punish offenders.

“These regulations are not only repressive but also retrograde,” the organization said. “Instead of working to relax the often very rigid press laws in force in their countries, the Arab League information ministers have banded together to put pressure on news media that have been annoying them and escaping their control."

It also indicated that satellite TV channels have helped revolutionize the news media and to bring quite new and bold ideas the official Arab media and citizens dare not to touch upon.

“Since their emergence in the region, satellite TV stations have revolutionized the news media in the Arab world. Unlike the national TV stations that have strong censorship, stations such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya are forums for free speech in which the people of the Arab world can hear their grievances expressed,” RWB added.

According to the RWB statement, it was surprising that Egypt and Saudi Arabia were the first parties to promote the agreement – where independent media faced numerous difficulties over the last few years; e.g. Al-Jazeera channel were disallowed from neither opening an office in Saudi Arabia nor reporting from there.

Qatar, Al-Jazeera satellite channel's headquarters, was the only Arab League member to veto the agreement which aims to regulate the operation of satellite channels and authorizes signatory countries to withdraw, freeze, suspend or give up renewing work permits of media said to have broken the regulations.

Agreement articles

Using very vague language, it also stipulates that satellite TV stations should not harm social harmony, national unity, public order or social values. Among the agreement's most controversial articles are the following:

- The agreement calls for media freedom, however, it conditions that this freedom is exercised within the awareness and responsibility in a way that does not harm the supreme interests of Arab countries. This article becomes non-workable when leaders' interests contradict people's ones.

- It further calls for respecting the countries and their leaders and not to attack the national or religious figures and this opposes the principles of freedom of expression.

- The agreement stresses the importance of respecting individual's privacy and not to violate this privacy in any shape. It also calls for preventing all means for fomenting violence and terrorism, yet it demands separating it from the right to resist the occupation. In this respect, human rights organizations report that security and information authorities are directly responsible for breaching the privacy of citizens.

- Moreover, the agreement stresses the necessity for respecting the religious and ethical principles of Arab society and to stop telecasting programs that defame God, religions, prophets, doctrines and religious figures. It also demands not to telecast materials that contain porno scenes or dialogues.

Yemeni context

Over the last few months, Yemeni government started to feel unhappy with the increased freedom websites that allow surfers and writers to express what they feel, and this law it sought to silence them.

This situation led Interior Minister Rashad Al-Alimi and Information Minister Hasan Al-Lawzi to direct strong and threatening messages to journalists and website editors to stop what they call the beyond-the-limit writings that target high ranking officials and damage the national unity and security.

Unlike newspapers and electronic websites, the official authorities still maintain a complete monopoly of TV satellite channels and this prompted different businessmen and parties, after failing to convince authorities, to seek establishing new TV satellite channels and to telecast their programs from outside the country as is the case with Al-Saeeda channel and Saba channel due to be launched soon.

Reactions to agreement

Al-Jazeera satellite channel devoted numerous programs to attack the recent agreement which was meant to target it in the first place and pointed out the agreement is an attempt by government to impose restrictions on free media which helped disclose their reality.

Similarly, private sector employee Taha Ali stresses that the recent agreement tend to suffocate and besiege the citizens who got fed up with what is presented in the official channels, noting the independent media enables people to get out from the strict hold of official media.