AJU report imperfect, yet worthy of respect [Archives:2006/955/Opinion]
By: Abdulbari Taher
The Press Liberties Committee of the Arab Journalists' Union (AJU) issued its annual report on press liberties across Arab world being the first of its kind as far as my information goes. The AJU was founded more than 50 years ago and includes both official and non-official syndicates. The union, initially, observed the political conditions within Arab governments and their relations with the hegemonic poles of Egypt and Iraq.
Although the AJU has had democratic, journalistic leaderships under Kamel Zouhiry, Ahmed Baha Adeen, and Salah Adeen Hafez, the nature of Arab journalist syndicates and the dominance of regional hegemons have minimized the effectiveness of unions in defending liberties. Even when the Union shifted its headquarters to Iraq following the signing of the Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel, the Union's performance)though it had leaders such as Sami Al-Munis, the martyr Hana Moqbil, and Sigad Al-Ghazi)was pitiable because it operated in a society that lacked general liberties and democracy,, in addition to the official nature of most syndicates.
The aforementioned report was full of questionnaires relating to the gathering of data about the authority of the press, number of affiliates, laws enacted that covered the press, punishments, proscribed topics, and government excesses in relationship to journalists. The report constitutes a great endeavor, though it neither thoughtfully considers the repressive restrictions imposed upon journalists by dictatorial Arab regimes, nor does it register the extra-legal encroachments on the press' freedoms in these countries.
What is eye catching is the report's introduction which seems to be a forced one, regarding the defense of press liberties. It reads “The purpose s to reveal facts in the quest of transparency and a showdown with free-thinking and faithful Arab writers. Under the existing international circumstances of globalization we have nothing to say but the truth)the whole truth)before Arab public opinion. With this in mind, every concerned party including syndicates, unions, and Arab press associations have participated in preparing this report.”
Our criticism is confined to report's comment that “we have nothing to say but the truth,” since any bias would readily be reported in the media. To coerce civil bodies in dictatorial, repressive regimes to say the truth is an important development according to the well-known Italian political theorist, Antonio Gramsci. Without a doubt, a great effort has been exerted in preparing the questionnaire, extracting data from the questionnaires, even if sometimes incomplete when made for the first time. What is forceful is that the report showed that Iraq, even though occupied, ranked in first place regarding the degree of repression of the press.
Many people will not accept that Iraq)which remains under American colonization)ranks first since there are hundreds of newspapers, satellite channels, and citizens are free to express themselves. Thus, the situation in Iraq now is better than during Saddam's tenure. I have reached this conclusion after considering the freedoms that the press has in a spectrum of countries, in addition to the kinds of censorship imposed. It is true that Iraq has been an ongoing massacre for journalists as the offices of many satellite channels were attacked such as Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, and Abu Dhabi. Even though a number of journalists have been killed in Iraq, the study did not consider killing as a criterion worthy of evaluation.
As Iraq ranked first place and Yemen second casts some doubt on the credibility of the report. Though Yemen and Algeria have seen a woeful set backs and overt suppressive practices in regard to press liberties, they are no worse than Tunisia, Somalia, Mauritania, Oman, or Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the situations in Kuwait, Lebanon, and Jordan do not qualify them to be seen as beacons of freedom of opinion and expression in the Arab world.
Some justifications are made in the report for its rankings. For instance, the report refers to the absence of press syndicates in some countries and the submission of incomplete questionnaires in others. All in all, the AJU's report is a great work and deserves our respect.
Abdulbari Taher is a Yemeni Journalist and the former chairman of Yemeni Journalists Syndicate
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[archive-e:955-v:14-y:2006-d:2006-06-15-p:opinion]
