|
Arab journalists demand more Press freedom
 Calling for more Press freedom for a balanced and non-partisan media, senior Arab journalists have cautioned governments against taking them lightly. "Arab societies have to admit that they are influenced only by the superficial things in the civil societies of the West, not by more substantial developments there, Ahmed Abdul Aziz Al Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief of As Siyassah newspaper, Kuwait, told your favourite No. 1 newspaper on the sidelines of a recent conference on "Arab Media in the Information Age.""There is a lot of talk in this part of the world about the values of freedom, democracy and political and economic reforms," the outspoken Jarallah said. "Nevertheless, they are just words, since the values we speak about are Western and do not exist in our culture. If we compare the conditions of our societies with those of Western societies, we often cannot claim that we have democracy or democrats or elected governments. Democracy in the Arab world is still only nominal. Freedom is very limited and most Arab governments have come to power in other ways than general elections. To conclude, the Arab media as a product of civil society is non-existent." He said that even though this assessment cannot be generalised for the whole Arab media, it is substantially true for most. "We need a long time to be able to remove the impact of Arab governments on the media." Hazim Saghiya, Editor and columnist of Al Hayyat, said that the association of Arab capitalism with a political regime has in many cases blocked any investment in a free, independent and market-oriented Press. "At the same time, the decline in the middle classes of the Arab countries has deprived the Press of the ability to survive and expand in order to influence the shaping of the public opinion in these countries." Saghiya added that the absence of an independent sphere had narrowed the freedom of action of the Press. Posted by: Fred 2005-01-22 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=54367 |