Media groups unite behind Al Jazeera
NOT LONG after media freedom came about in South Africa in the 1990s, Al Jazeera started television broadcasts from Qatar. Daoud Kuttab, of Community Network, Jordan, remembers vividly 21 years ago when Al Jazeera became the first station in a sea of state-controlled Middle East media to allow a live interview. Kuttab told a twoday conference in Doha this week that this first live interview led to some loosening of control over the media in the Middle East.
The meeting, themed “Freedom of expression: facing up to the threat” was called in response to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain launching a blockade of Qatar after cutting ties with it, and a call for the closure of Al Jazeera.
The sanctions were described as “bullying” at the conference.
The four states – three of which are fellow members with Qatar of the Gulf Co-operation Council – have accused it of financing militant groups in Syria, and allying with Iran, their regional foe.
The stand-off erupted at the beginning of last month after remarks were published at the end of May attributed to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in which he was quoted as praising Gaza’s ruling Islamist Hamas movement and calling Iran an “Islamic power”.
Qatar, however, said the emir had not made the remarks and said its official news agency’s website had been hacked.
Qatar’s opponents called on the energyrich state to shut down Al Jazeera, especially its Arabic service, which was accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood political movement, the nemesis of the current Egyptian regime.
The demand prompted an international outcry from proponents of freedom of expression and international journalism bodies. The concern led to Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee calling this week’s conference, which was organised with the International Federation of Journalists, the International Press Institute and with support of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Broadcasting Union and Human Rights Watch.
Kuttab said: “Media houses must stay united to protect media freedom, forgetting their differences, if any.”
Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said that although adherents of some of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political manifestations may sometimes be involved in violent attacks on civilians and intolerance of dissent, “the essence of what the Gulf monarchs found dangerous about the Muslim Brotherhood is that it represents a vision of Islamic governance based on the ballot box rather than hereditary (or, in the case of Egypt, military) rule”. – Independent Foreign Service