What do Togo, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Suriname have in common? First, they’re all countries many would have trouble pointing to on a map. And secondly, they all rank above the UAE on the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) index of press freedom.The annual survey, released last week, places the UAE at the same level as Uganda in terms of press freedom. Both stand at 86th out of 175 countries listed by RWB, with the Emirates down 17 places on its 2008 ranking.
Other GCC countries fared badly too: Saudi Arabia (placed 163), Qatar (94) and Bahrain (119) are all down in the rankings – sliding two, 20 and 23 places respectively. Only Kuwait and Oman managed to edge up the chart.
The Gulf states are generally forward-thinking in other aspects of business and trade. So it is depressing that press freedom – according to the RWB, at least – seems to be in decline in this part of the world.
But while it is depressing, it’s not surprising. For this year has been an annus horribilis in the press freedom stakes.
Take the new draft media law in the UAE, which – though published at the beginning of this year – has still not been approved by higher authorities. The draft law attracted international criticism, not least from the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which said it “unlawfully restricts free expression… Media organisations found to… have ‘misled’ the public and ‘harmed’ the economy face fines of up to Dhs500,000 (US$135,000)”.
Then there was the case of Emarat Al Youm, the UAE Arabic newspaper suspended for 20 days as a result of a court ruling in a defamation case.
Mohammad Yousuf, Chairman of the UAE Journalists Association, told me earlier today that the draft media law and the Emarat Al Youm case are the two reasons behind the UAE slipping down the RWB index.
Internet censorship was another factor behind the UAE’s decline in the rankings. Soazig Dollet, MENA head of research and media relations for RWB, told The National newspaper last week that the group “took [internet censorship] into consideration much more than last year”.
Another factor could have been the ‘criminalisation’ of journalists subject to defamation cases. Earlier this year, for example, several journalists working locally for an international news agency had their passports confiscated by UAE authorities, following libel action filed against them by a claimant – who was, incidentally, himself in prison at the time.
The picture is less rosy elsewhere in the Gulf. In Saudi Arabia, bloggers have been imprisoned for what they write. And yesterday it emerged that a female journalist has been sentenced to 60 lashes for working at the TV network which aired the confessions of the Saudi ‘sex bragger’ – although it is unclear exactly how much involvement the part-time LBC employee had in the offending show.
Perhaps the most damning evidence that press freedom is doomed is the fact that the one organisation charged with protecting it – the Doha Centre for Media Freedom – has been an abject failure. In June, its director Robert Ménard quit after just 14 months in the job, after an apparent spat with the Qatari government over the centre’s activities. The fact that Ménard was the founder of RWB cannot have helped Qatar’s case in this year’s ‘freedom’ rankings.
So is all lost? Not quite. Arguably, the political makeup of the Gulf states makes them intrinsically opposed to a Western-style ‘free’ media. But there is no reason why better legislation cannot help the Gulf states jump up the RWB rankings—although probably not, it has to be said, to the top.
Personal criticism aimed at ruling families will never be acceptable under such regimes. However, fair and critical reporting – especially of negative economic stories – does not necessarily damage the political structures in place. Legislation should be changed to decriminalise journalists writing such stories. It’s all easily available via the international media – so why not here, too?
Ben Flanagan is editor of Media Week Middle East and a regular contributor to Maktoob Business.