The Doha Centre for Media Freedom, which defends the rights of journalists and media people in general, organised a solidarity event in memory of journalists killed during the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
During the event at one of the halls of Katara, words of support and sorrow for the journalists were delivered.
But what is clear is that such meetings and protests — even they are important in that they shed light on professional and human issues — are not effective enough, given the bad conditions of the Arab world as far as human rights, journalists’ rights and laws in this regard are concerned.
Experiences tell us that journalists are always victims, especially in Arab countries and their surroundings. This is particularly so because inter-Arab relations either have to be based on flattery or confrontation. Journalists are scapegoats in both cases.
Another thing is that laws are always kept aside and activated only on demand. Everybody knows that they are controlled by regimes, regardless of the nature of such authorities.
In the case of Gaza, we are talking about Israel, which is above the law — we like it or not.
During the meeting, I was given a placard saying “Journalism is not a crime”.
But it is so in Arab countries where the lowest ranking policeman can intimidate the most senior journalist. This is not the case in Western countries, where the most senior government official holds the youngest journalist in high esteem.
This is the difference. We are a people of slogans. In the West, there are people who work and have knowledge. There is a huge difference between both worlds.
We should not look far away to drive our point home? Let us stay in Qatar. Does anybody know the enormity of the suffering journalists — working for commercial, not political party or state-run newspapers — sustain?
In Qatar, there are no agencies that can protect journalists against the problems they may face. Journalists are always stuck between the rock of their responsibility and the hard place of the executives. They are always victims of complaints from government officials and often their relatives. Stories abound in this regard.
A large number of journalists have lost their jobs because they had none to protect them. In this case, they are equal to street cleaners.
Journalists and street cleaners cannot complain to labour associations or resort to the courts to get their rights back. They need lots of patience and money to get these rights back through the courts, but their salaries are barely enough for the month and their newspapers care the least about them.
Are not journalists victims of all times? As we speak in Qatar about rights and duties and the protection of the media people, I hope we do not overlook the media law, which is about to come out. I hope it will be up to the aspirations of the media people.
I want to thank Qatar Centre for Media Freedom. I also want to say that I back its pursuit of a better future for media freedom.
