By IPS Correspondents
DUBAI, Nov 29 1999 (IPS)

Long working from the shadows of the omnipresent state, the media in the Arabian Gulf region are showing some signs of openness. But journalists believe the real challenge will be to keep open the door of independence.

Newspapers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are uncovering instances of corruption and ineptitude among civil servants.

Policy differences between the country’s health minister and a senior woman official in the ministry recently spilled over into the newspapers. In recent weeks, government officials, many of them members of the ruling families, have urged newspapers to come out with “constructive criticism”.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that form the UAE, inaugurated a press club earlier this month saying the time had come to raise the standard of journalism in the region.

Media organisations in the Gulf Arab states have long perfected the art of self-censorship into a technique of journalism. Staff on the region’s English-language publications, many of whom are from South Asia, say they find this an easy way of adapting to a media environment they say is often foggy.

Even for the expatriate journalists on Arabic-language newspapers — who are mostly from Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon — the compulsions for self-censorship are evident. The authorities have often ordered newspapers temporarily closed because of lapses on the copydesks and have imposed other form of penalties.

Even in the midst of efforts to change, there are still clearly identifiable no-go areas. Critical commentaries on the ruling families, structure of government and religion are largely absent.

The Arabic-language papers report and comment on business and social affairs, lack of unity in the Arab world and ways of confronting what is seen as confrontationist Israeli policies.

In the English-language newspapers, however, the opinion pages rarely contain articles concerning the country or region. Even on the news pages, parliamentary proceedings in archenemy Israel tend to get more coverage than deliberations in the region’s own consultative councils.

The Gulf’s moves towards media openness may have been inspired by the arrival of Al Jazeera satellite television in Qatar three years ago.

With its mix of in-depth coverage and no-holds-barred interviews, Al Jazeera is widely watched all over the Arab world. “Jazeera provides a space of freedom to the Arab viewer,” says reporter Jamal Demiloj. “Before, Arabs didn’t have any idea of media freedom.”

But that freedom has come at a price. Over the last year, Al Jazeera bureaus were temporarily shut down in Kuwait and Jordan because the station carried programmes deemed offensive by those governments.

Mohammed Jassim Al Ali, the managing director of Al Jazeera, says the station has also struggled to attract advertisements because of political pressure exerted by Arab governments on key business groups. Gulf journalists say there are several roadblocks to full press freedom, adding that officials seek to curtail the scope of coverage by regularly invoking the call for a “responsible press”.

“Freedom is a charming word and its suppression poses a threat to society, while responsibility is not bad unless used as a weapon against freedom,” says Ahmed Al Bosta of Bahrain’s ‘Al Ayam’ newspaper.

Editors often complain that those in lower levels of authority are still uncomfortable with journalists who are not subservient. “As a working journalist in the UAE, I come across examples almost daily — some minor, others more disturbing — of attempts to influence media coverage,” says Malcolm Ward, news editor of Dubai’s ‘Gulf News’.

“These can range from demands to change articles prior to publication — always strongly resisted — to intimidation of individuals. Not everyone believes that constructive criticism can be a good thing and some discomfort of government officials is a small price to pay for informed debate and decisions,” Ward wrote in a recent article.

Reporters say getting timely access to news is another problem. “Officials seem to want to hold on to information that ordinarily should have been in the public domain, believing that reporters by the nature of their job are irresponsible,” a reporter working for the UAE government media says.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Minister of Information and Culture, says, “It is difficult to speak about local press freedom while the media machine is not run by local journalists.”

Officials say they want legislation that would make it mandatory for media organisations to recruit locals as a certain percentage of their staff.

“Press freedom will develop only when awareness of the role of the media has developed among readers, writers and officials,” said Sheikh Abdullah, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family.

Many journalists want to see how Dubai’s new press club can work in that direction. “The Dubai Press Club can act as a catalyst by providing a forum for newspaper proprietors, editors and journalists to meet and talk freely with government officials and others about the need for greater freedom of information and by extension, the role of a freer, more responsible media,” the ‘Gulf News’ Ward says.

Others point out that the campaign for transparency is being conducted in uncharted waters. “We must not forget that this is still an experiment,” says an editor working for an Arabic- language newspaper in the UAE. “The openness we seem to be witnessing could be reversed if too many stories happen to touch too many raw nerves.”

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