A free press is about the search for truth

A free press is the immune system of society. The more robust its condition, the healthier the environment in which it operates.

• Self-censorship virus plagues media
• A free press is about the search for truth
• Our approach is based on ethics
• Change with the times

• 'It is no longer possible to sell illusions'
• 'We need an environment that encourages innovative thinking'

• Journalists in prison
• Journalists killed in 2004

Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Information and Culture, has called for the UAE's publications law to be amended to protect press freedom and prevent the harassment of journalists.

This process will require serious and thoughtful contributions from many parties. Press freedom is about the search for truth and that is as serious as it gets.

Truth, though, is an elusive and difficult beast, never fully seen or comprehended. Philip Graham, publisher of the Washington Post until his death in 1963, described journalism as "the first draft of history".

When viewing the past, the story can seem deceptively simple. From a lofty perch decades, centuries or millennia after events, important things stand out, patterns emerge and there is a degree of clarity. The veneer of order, though, always masks a muscular and unruly reality.

When Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 theses to the door of Wittenberg Church, a passing burgher might well have asked why that irritating priest was defacing church property.

It is certain that no contemporary would have known how profoundly important this single act would become in European history.

The story of the present reveals human affairs for what they are and always have been contrary, clamorous, unpredictable, tempestuous and often quite baffling. Yet we are required to impose an order on this and so it is that journalists try to write that first draft of history.

To do so with authenticity is challenging but rewarding. An informed society is one that makes better decisions, guided by truth rather than rumour or speculation.

So, what to do next in the UAE?

First, scrap the UAE Publishing and Printing Law of 1980 now.

A country this good cannot afford to have a law this bad. Indeed, publication of the law itself might be construed as breaking its Article 81: "It is prohibited to publish news that causes harm to the national currency or causes damage to the national economy."

Many of its provisions covering content would simply terrify a foreign investor familiar with the transparency and accountability that a free press encourages and monitors.

It has become practice that these provisions are seldom applied, so scrapping the law would have little impact on the day-to-day exercise of responsible journalism.

The UAE is taking an increasingly important place in international politics, trade, business and cultural life. It is a modern and sophisticated society, built on tradition and religion, and is the core society of a new Middle East now emerging. It cannot have bad laws that damage its status and reputation.

Responsible industry

To scrap the law apart from those sections dealing with ownership and other technical matters (which need to be redrafted anyway) would not result in anarchy. Other laws already cover almost everything that might prove contentious.

Journalists and the industry as a whole in the UAE are predominantly responsible and adult. They would respond to such an initiative by taking great care to ensure that the transition to a new system would work smoothly.

Second, begin now to develop a structure that can meet the requirement for a responsible press that is able and expected to deliver the truth as best it can.

The founding principle of such a system should be to decriminalise the law as it applies to the press and allow publishing to operate as any other business, subject to normal laws.

The first layer of a new system should be self-imposed standards by each publication. If a newspaper receives a legitimate complaint or publishes a factual error, it should speedily publish a appropriately prominent correction of its own volition.

In most cases certainly in excess of 90 per cent of all complaints this will repair any damage caused by the error and is standard practice at Gulf News.

The second and perhaps most important raft should be industry self-regulation. This will also be the most vexatious.

How can one expect competitors which are often engaged in sometimes acrimonious commercial battles to cooperate to achieve a viable institutional and practical system of self-regulation?

The answer is simple self-interest. To develop a system that the public and government trust is preferable to any other approach.

It is important to recognise that no such system will be perfect. There will always be controversy attached to it. After all, highly respected professional medical bodies, for example, get it wrong sometimes.

An arbitration system, though, is far superior to one based on the courts. It is quicker, cheaper and cleaner. There are several models around the world that can be considered and adapted to fit the requirements of the UAE.

Then it is time to move on to develop the federal publications law into one appropriate to the time and needs of the modern UAE. What should it contain? Who should be involved in framing it?

Its contents should be confined to technical issues such as ownership of publishing houses and the mechanics of, for example, registering titles and establishing the industry regulatory body. That is all.

Everything that cannot be dealt with by the industry regulator should be left to normal law. There is one proviso though.

With the exception of major issues, such as official secrets and incitement to violence or crime, the press should not face criminal penalties. It should be treated like any other individual or organisation.

The establishment of such a system, while a major advance, would not be the end of t