Jazeera slams TV crackdown - wrote from Cairo, February 14, 2008, Heba Saleh, for The Financial Times.

Published: February 14 2008
Media network Al Jazeera said on Friday a code adopted by Arab states to govern satellite broadcasting could shackle freedom of expression.

”Al Jazeera considers the adoption of the charter … a risk to the freedom of expression in the Arab world,” Wadah Khanfar, director-general of Al Jazeera, said in a statement.

”Any code of ethics or governance for journalistic practices should emerge, and be governed, from within the profession and not be imposed externally by political institutions.”

In a collective effort to curb satellite channels such as al-Jazeera, Arab states adopted a charter on Tuesday that authorises individual countries to penalise media organisations deemed to have offended political and religious leaders or to have damaged social harmony and national unity.


In recent years the explosion in the number of satellite channels – there are now about 500 on air, most of them privately owned – has meant that states have lost control over what their populations could see on their television screens.

Channels such as al-Jazeera, which has managed to upset most Arab governments at one point or another, have provided platforms for opposition groups and breached taboos by broadcasting stories about human rights violations and election fraud.

An Egyptian court last week fined an al-Jazeera journalist for damaging the image of the country by filming a documentary containing reconstructions of torture in a police station. Saudi Arabia has also long had problems with al-Jazeera, though gulf watchers say the channel appears to have toned down its coverage of the kingdom after a rapprochement between Doha and Riyadh.

Iraq banned Jazeera from reporting in Iraq three years ago accusing it of fomenting sectarianism among its divided majority Shi’ite and minority Sunni Muslims, although its English-language service has a presence in Baghdad.

The ministers denied the charter was aimed at limiting freedom of expression and said its real aim was to “regulate” satellite broadcasting and protect the rights of viewers.

But the document adopted at the meeting called by Egypt and Saudi Arabia at the Arab league headquarters is explicit about what it sees as the limits to free speech.

“The commitment to freedom of expression is a main cornerstone of Arab media activity, provided that the practice of this freedom should be informed by a sense of awareness and responsibility in order to protect the higher interests of Arab states and of the Arab nation,” says the document.

Channels that broadcast sexually explicit material, or incite violence, or insult religion would also be subject to penalties.

The signatories are now expected to translate the principles of the charter into national legislation, though the Lebanese minister said he did not consider the document binding.

The Egyptian information minister, Anas El Fekki, said his country would start applying it immediately.

Mr El Fekki delivered a strong attack on Arab satellite channels describing some as having deviated from the “correct path” and saying that there was a need to protect viewers from their “negative practices”.

He said it was time for “a serious confrontation with those who propagate ignorance, reactionary and outdated ideas … and [those who] score points by undermining the will of nations and people.”

Mona El Shazli, the host of 10 PM, the highly respected current affairs programme on Egypt’s Dream TV, described the development on her show as “worrying” and said the offences listed in the charter were vaguely defined leaving much to interpretation.

Al Jazeera’s statement went further, saying that the document’s language was “could be interpreted to actively hinder independent reporting from the region.”

”The region has seen the recent emergence of many media institutions and every attempt should be made not to hamper, but to facilitate an environment to encourage their independence and freedom,” it said.

According to the charter, governments will be able to confiscate the equipment of organisations they consider guilty of breaching rules. They will also be able to shut down their offices and withdraw permits.

Al Jazeera and programmes such as 10 PM regularly host government critics as well as uncensored live contributions from viewers.
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the illegal Egyptian opposition group, often take part in discussion programmes on satellite channels. The group has 88 members in parliament who were elected as independents but the Brotherhood is banned from state television.

Further articles in The Financial Times:

Al-Jazeera English channel lures US subscribers - Jul-03 - 2008.
Iran starts TV channel for western audience - Jul-02
Al-Jazeera absent from Riyadh summit - Apr-02