Journalists told not to fan sectarianism in Bahrain

Manama: A conference of political societies and several NGOs has urged journalists and columnists to refrain from any form of sectarian writing.

"We ask all the people who publish articles in the press not to indulge in any form of writing or editorial that fuels sectarianism and divides the nation," the media committee of the National Dialogue said on Saturday evening at the and of a one-day conference.

"We also call for the prompt drafting of a code of ethics that will help regulate journalism in the country," the committee said.

The media should assume its crucial role in confronting the growing threats of internal divisions and in rectifying the orientation of the people who are encouraging or sliding towards sectarianism, the committee said. Panelist Mohammad Fadil, the secretary-general of the Syndicate of Journalists said that newspapers had to agree on a minimum set of professional and ethical standards.

Delicate situation

"It is a very delicate situation because some newspapers that contribute to the deepening of sectarianism and some journalists fuel sectarian fires.

"The press did not create sectarianism, but today there are newspapers and journalists who are using it with the result that more and more people are advocating sectarian views," said the veteran journalist. Several journalists, encouraged by international media organisations and alarmed by the sectarian divisions affecting some countries in the region, have been campaigning for a code of ethics in Bahrain. However, the lack of response from some editors has stalled their efforts.

"We have been pushing hard for a code of ethics, but we are not getting the responses we were expecting from some of the decision-makers in some newspapers, which puts us in a difficult situation. We cannot have a code if there is no genuine commitment from all of the partners," Eisa Al Shayji, the chairman of the Bahrain Journalists Association, said on Sunday.

"We should also make sure that the code is implemented through a special committee because if there is no authority to enforce decisions, then the code will lose its significance," he said.