DOHA: It is wrong to believe that Al Jazeera is a symbol of media freedom in Qatar, because much before its launch Qatar TV was handling issues that were bold and almost a taboo, the first Qatari woman to join TV said here yesterday.
Dr Elham Badr Al Sada also said Al Jazeera should not be included among local media organizations as it never touches upon Qatari issues.
Al Sada was speaking at a seminar organized by the Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF) yesterday to mark World Press Freedom Day, an event that several participants described as “irrelevant, unimpressive and badly organized”.
“It (the event) looked like an amateurish debate or discussions like the ones that are held in our majlis (living rooms) every day,” said a Qatari participant who didn’t want his name in print.
The seminar was supposed to debate Qatar’s media landscape but what was actually discussed there were journalist-speakers’ —their so-called achievements in the profession, said the participant.
Taking part in a discussion on Qatar’s media strategy, Al Sada said of Al Jazeera, which is generally considered as a symbol of media freedom in Qatar:
“Al Jazeera is not part of the Qatari media as it does not talk about local issues”.
Director of Media at the Qatar Foundation for the Protection of Women and Children’s rights, she hinted Al Jazeera was launched because of the media freedom that existed in the country before.
“Even before Al Jazeera, the Qatari media was outspoken about many issues,” Mubarak Jaham Al Kuwari, CEO of Qatar Media Corporation (QMC), said.
Speaking about one such instance, Al Sada said that when the passports of 5,000 Qataris were revoked by the government, she was able to speak about the issue on local television.
“In the 27 years of my career so far, I never received a call from the government to censor anything,” Al Sada said.
Some participants of the seminar said they were shocked by the discussion on as crucial an issue as media freedom by a panel of speakers that consisted of journalists who were not independent.
The moderator of the discussion also came in for criticism from some participants who privately complained that he wasted time discussing resumes and experiences of the panelists.
“It was a waste of time. Were we here to know the achievements of the panellists or discuss a serious issue like media freedom in Qatar? We thought they would be discussing the challenges to press freedom in the country. It was a disappointment being here,” said another participant on grounds of anonymity.
Issues such as freedom to report and easy access to information should have been in the forefront of the discussion, some participants said. Some critical insights had indeed come from some members of the audience who raised the problems faced by local journalists in the form of questions.
Khalid Al Jabor, one of the attendees who said he felt let down by the seminar, spoke about the restraints on local media.
“The local media such as newspapers, radio and television are kept like the Chinese foot binding,” Al Jabor said.
Mohammed Al Qahtani was critical that the panellists did not include independent scribes.
Editor-in-Chief of Al Sharq newspaper, Jaber Al Harami, also spoke on the panel.
Panellists also said that it was self-censorship that restrained local media organisations while the government had never put a bar on anyone.
“So far no journalist has been imprisoned or harmed in Qatar like other neighbouring countries,” Al Harami said.
