Better understanding of media's role

Growing transparency: Cases of Shaikh Eisa and corruption among officials

Front page headlines in UAE newspapers last year were dominated by cases of financial corruption among government officials. The press was given access to details of the cases and names of high ranking officials that had been exposed and tried.

According to Mohammad Yousuf, chairman of the UAE Journalists Association, coverage of the corruption cases started only after it emerged how widespread the phenomenon was. "Corruption needs to be discussed openly in the media. What we have been doing is following up on the story only after it is announced. There should not be any restrictions in reporting on corruption."

Ali Jaber of the American University in Dubai does not believe there has been an increase in transparency in the media. "The Arab press will have to work a lot in terms of objectivity. They still have a long way to go," he said.

The concentration of Arab newspapers in the hands of governments, political parties and major companies, he added, is a hurdle in achieving more transparency.

"The question of objectivity should be addressed and there should be a benchmark about what it means to be objective and what it means to serve an agenda… The media needs to service the public — it's a basic right, but it's not doing that," he said.

Similarly, local and foreign media were given unprecedented access to report the high-profile Shaikh Eisa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan case, pertaining to the assault and abuse of an Afghan grain trader, last year.

Yousuf believes that while coverage of the Shaikh Eisa case was relatively free in the local press and "a step in the right direction", it was important for the press to uncover such stories instead of "following them up when foreign news organisations broke them".

Shaikh Mohammad e-session:

In a region where press conferences by rulers are rare, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has come up with an innovative way to connect with the people and media in the UAE: electronically.

Although Shaikh Mohammad's first e-session took place in 2000, he intensified the effort in 2009, holding two sessions, one for the media and one for the public, answering a wide range of questions.

The initiative was hailed by the press as an encouraging step towards increased transparency by the government, and an effort for it to reach out to the people.

"I have said before that our leadership seems to be much more advanced than the people and even the press," said Yousuf. "I just wish that ministers and undersecretaries would learn from the leadership and become more transparent. You would refrain from being so open if you have something to hide or bury."

Jaber, too, said it was a step forward: "It's a brave new experiment that Shaikh Mohammad has embarked on to take the time and put a lot of content into the messages he wants to get out," he said. "E-communication is where the future is going."

Cases against journalists decline

The number of court cases against journalists has fallen significantly since Shaikh Mohammad's 2007 announcement that journalists would no longer be jailed for carrying out their professional duties.

According to Yousuf, 60 cases were filed against media outlets between 2005 and 2007. Since then and so far there have been "between 10 and 20 complaints filed and about three or four cases... that is an encouraging sign," he said. "However, I wish this was also complemented with the widening of the margin of freedom, which has not happened."

Jaber, however, said that he supported cases against the media "as it seems the media is doing something right".

"The last thing you want to see is compliance complacency," he said.

Gulf News senior reporter Bassam Za'za', who has been covering Dubai Courts for eight years, said he has seen judicial authorities mature in their dealings with cases concerned with the media over the years.

"The authorities have matured in their understanding of the role of the media, especially after Shaikh Mohammad's decision not to imprison journalists for doing their jobs," he said. While the treatment by judges and lawyers of cases against media entities has not changed, the mechanism of referring the cases and litigation process has progressed, he added.

"Earlier, you would find that more of the complaints lodged with the police would be referred to the public prosecution. This has decreased thanks to the maturity obtained by the police in the mechanism of cross-examination in libel cases. Previously, a complaint lodged at a police station would be more likely to lead to a case and referred to prosecutors. But now police conduct further investigations and refer cases against journalists to prosecutors for extensive legal consultation before making a libel case and referring it to the public prosecution," he said.

Special courts for media in Abu Dhabi

Last June, Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and chairman of the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, announced a decision to establish specialised public prosecution and judicial departments for media-related cases in the emirate.

The move was welcomed by journalists, who urged the authorities to implement the decision on a federal level.

Under the UAE's Penal Code (Federal Law No 3 of 1987) and the Press and Publications Law (Federal Law No 15 of 1980), a journalist who commits the offence of libel, slander or breach of privacy and family life will be liable for punishment by imprisonment and/or fines.

Yousuf said there was an "urgent need" for judicial authorities to appoint officials that are competent to deal with cases regarding the media.

"I, as a lawyer and head of the journalists association, have witnessed personally the problems with having prosecutors who do not understand the role of the media. Journalists are often put in the same rooms as murderers and drug dealers, and are dealt with the same way," he said, adding that his association has already asked the authorities for separate courts for journalists. If there is a prosecutor who specialises in such cases he would be [forced] to look into the laws and precedents regarding cases against the press.

He said, however, that it was very important to establish that journalists in their professional capacities "do not commit crimes, but violate laws" and should therefore not be tried under the penal code.

Yousuf also noted that in the announcement made by Shaikh Mansour, there was only reference to "cases" against journalists and not "crimes" committed by them, which he said was a positive sign.

Sami Al Reyami, editor-in-chief, Emarat Al Youm, agreed that there was a need for a prosecutor who was aware of the role of media, laws regulating it and precedents in media-related cases.

Za'za', however, questioned the feasibility of such courts, saying the cases against media entities were too few.

"Libel cases are often referred to courts after being overlooked by the Dubai Attorney General's Technical Office. The current prosecutors are capable of handling libel cases and the number of cases is under control. Perhaps a special prosecutor for media related cases can be assigned, " he said.

- With inputs from Alice Johnson, Deputy UAE Editor