Journalists hope draft will change
Academics, journalists appeal to change media draft law
The UAE's draft media law, which was approved by the Federal National Council in January 2009, is still pending approval by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Gulf News has learnt.
Academics and journalists are hoping that the reason the draft has not been enacted into a law is because it is going to be amended.
Dr Aisha Al Nuaimi, associate professor of mass communications at Sharjah University, expressed the hope that the draft law in its present form would not be passed and the relevant authorities would consider the demands of journalists to promote a free media environment.
Dr Aisha said that press freedom in the UAE has declined and the credibility of most media outlets and journalists was squandered "because they allowed the authorities' dictates and pressure to shape their work."
Dr Aisha said specialised courts to hear media-related cases would not make a difference "if the media law is bad."
A specialised court is being created in Abu Dhabi to hear lawsuits involving the media, including cases of libel, defamation and untruthful reporting.
Mohammad Yousuf, chairman of the Journalists Association, said he hoped the draft media law would not pass. He added that the association was particularly concerned about two points — the possibility of a newspaper's licence being revoked and that the draft law does not specifically rule out the jailing of journalists for carrying out their professional duties.
"Many of the articles of the draft law are vague," he said.
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has issued instructions that no journalist is to be jailed for reasons related to his or her work, adding that there are other measures that may be taken against journalists who break the press and publication law.
Adel Mohammad Al Rasheed, managing editor, Abu Dhabi, for Emarat Al Youm, said a lack of access to information was a major obstacle facing journalists in doing their job.
The new media draft law scraps jail terms for journalists and instead imposes a fine of up to Dh5 million for breaking the law.
An official from the National Media Council refused to comment for this report.
While it does not specifically rule out imprisonment for journalists, the draft law does not impose it either, and reserves the journalist's right to protect his or her sources.
