Obstacles in obtaining information discussed

Dubai: The role of the media and its relationship with government departments, and the obstacles reporters face when trying to obtain information from those departments, was the topic of a recent seminar.

The Residency and Foreigners Affairs Department in Dubai organised the seminar which hosted media personnel from local newspapers.

Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director General of the Residency and Foreigners Affairs Department in Dubai, moderated the discussion, and said the media had a responsibility to portray a positive image of UAE government departments.

He said it was important to maintain a cooperative relationship between the media and government departments, as the media conveyed to the public and the rest of the world, the degree of efficiency within these departments.

This was important in order to maintain the UAE's good image.

Although transparency and trust between government departments was important to maintain, to communicate a positive image of the country, journalists in the UAE complained about the lack of cooperation from UAE government departments.

This forced them to seek other methods to obtain information.

Gulf News senior reporter Basma Al Jandaly said: "Government departments only provide positive information about their organisations, but when a journalist wants to investigate other information that indicates problems in the system, the journalist is met with resistance.

"We as journalists are forced to get our information from ‘back doors' or other sources which don't always prove to be credible," Basma said.

Other problems journalists faced included the difficulty of gaining information by press time due to the performance of private public relation companies government institutes hire to respond to the media on their behalf. Basma said: "Trading information must be done between the journalist and these government departments directly, without the interference of private public relations companies".

"These private PR companies don't deliver all the information we need, resulting in a lack of transparency between government departments and the media," Basma said.

Journalists at the seminar said they had a social responsibility to monitor government departments and their performance, and to investigate the public's complaints.

Fadeela Al Muaini, Journalist and Head of Investigation Section at Al Bayan Arabic Daily said: "The media must act as the watchdog of government departments and their performance. This monitoring role is not necessarily a negative one."

Fadeela said: "The public seeks the media in order to represent it and its problems. Sadly when we perform our jobs as journalists and report the problems, we are often faced with complaints and accusations from some officials in these departments. They suspect our nationalism and loyalty to our country. There are, however, some who understand our role and try to fix their mistakes, but there are others who cannot handle constructive criticism."