We, a few lesser known Qatari journalists, joined journalists from all over the world in the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, which falls on May 3 every year.
We celebrated this occasion even while we do not have an umbrella to shield us, or an association to protect our rights, or a club for gathering or even a law to fall back on when it is hard to access information and scale the walls of confidentiality and secrecy to reach sources of news which is already known but which nobody is authorised to disclose.
We marked World Press Freedom Day like everybody else in the world, but we, the Qatari journalists, are practising our profession without a law to show us how to do our job while avoiding mistakes and crimes. While we are making huge efforts, the hand of the censor inside us grows heavier day by day and forms barriers that prevent us from getting close to events shrouded in confidentiality and secrecy.
Influential people in our country are busy trying to find a formula to codify press freedom. They are still searching for opportunities, challenges and journalistic education, while the world has reached the ceiling of freedom and marked the day under the slogan, “Talk safely: Securing Freedom of Expression in all forms of Media”.
The United Nations has developed an action plan to improve the safety of journalists and deal with the issue of impunity, with the aim of combining the efforts of different UN agencies and international partners to create a safer environment for journalists. This plan will underline the importance of drafting laws that guarantee press freedom and the safety of journalists.
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom represented Qatar in World Press Freedom Day celebrations both inside and outside Qatar, without giving a chance to any of the Qatari journalists, and this year the celebrations focused on issues related to the safety of journalists.
The gathering called upon governments to create a safe and appropriate environment for journalists where they could work without unnecessary interference.
So, as we are concerned with the message, we need to understand its content, otherwise we will keep searching for innovative laws for the press.
