Al-Wahdawi [Archives:2003/666/Press Review]

2 September 2003
Main headlines:
– Billions of dollars worth loan agreements approved
– Aden governor asks Republican Guard commander intervention to drive out a guard member from a former culture minister house
– Al-Jumhiri Hospital staff in Hajja on strike
– 14 members of Habeesh local council resign
Mr Nabeel Abdulrahman al-Shaibani says in an article the ''political sterility'' prevents any regime from possibility of tolerating the idea of freedom in a normal way. Thus the politically sterile regime would inevitably adopt the policy of suppression in order to conceal its inability. Therefore such regimes harbour suppression of press freedom and drag journalists under some ''legal'' pretexts to various kinds of accountability. The authority that cherishes and practice gagging the freedom of writers does undoubtedly fear from the images of its political incapability and reality of its financial and administrative violations. Such a regime that does not respect the press and media freedom is the one believing in dictatorship even if it has practices rituals of democracy and political pluralism. Real democracy makes press the fourth estate ruling side by side with other powers. Freedom of press id the mirror of democracy reflecting facets of political life and faces of popular demands. It gives prominence to features of the regime and images of the public opinion, the beautiful and the ugly.
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[archive-e:666-v:13-y:2003-d:2003-09-08-p:press]