Journalism’s vulgar [Archives:2005/903/Opinion]
By: Basam Jamil Alsaqaf
“One fool maketh many, and has been wisely observed that fools rush in where angles fear to tread”
– Lord Byron, 1788-1824
Genius: Endeavour and Sweat
It is wisely observed that those who achieve success in life are not exceptionally geniuses or possess exceptionally unique talents; all they have is a solid ambition and a high spirit. History books clearly illustrate that successful people transform their aggravating circumstances towards their advantage, in most cases these are not necessarily geniuses.
This is what crossed my mind as I was browsing through the Family and Development Magazine which is published by Yemen Times; I highly appreciate the efforts of its editor Mr. Emad Al-Saqqaf who often reminds me of Edison's saying that a genius is 1% skill and 99% endeavor and sweat.
Contrary to the state's failure in publishing such an important magazine, Mr. Emad Al-Saqqaf marshaled his limited resources into establishing a magazine that competes head-on with famous Arabic magazines such as Saidaty, Zahrat Al-khaleej and Al-Sada, despite the huge gap in the experience and resources between Family & Development Magazine and its competition.
It is no doubt that this success is attributed to the apprenticeship of Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf who established an English newspaper that became an equal representation of Yemen to the global community with the Yemeni missions overseas.
Parasites and innovators
Several fellow journalists have vandalized the esteemed profession of journalism and made a cheap trade out of it: they spread out their scandals, defamed public servants and deformed grand literature and arts, taking advantage of the prevailing democratic spirit of the country, all with the consent of the ministry and minister of culture.
I'm not calling for closing down news papers as it was the case with Al-shoura, Qubita and Al-thawry, my call is for true journalism measures and establishment of true ethics to start with. The engagement of the ministry in conflict with the journalism community gave a chance for unethical outsiders such as Al-bilad to be published and for other to colonize Al-shoura newspaper. This policy is spawning unqualified editors as a consequence.
Having a certificate is no guarantee for being a journalist with integrity. The long list of our elite and vintage journalists is not limited to journalism graduates; among those are the pillars such as Saleh Dahan, Abdulbari Altahir, Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf, Izuldeen Alasbahi and Khalid salman to name a few
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[archive-e:903-v:14-y:2005-d:2005-12-15-p:opinion]
