Independent media watchdog to support freedom in Qatar

Doha: Media freedom in Qatar takes a step ahead after the launch on Thursday of an independent media freedom watchdog for the Gulf country and the rest of the Arab world, Qatari officials here announced.

Representatives of the Qatar Radio and Television Corporation and Reporters Without Borders' organisation signed a cooperation and partnership protocol establishing the Doha Centre for Media Freedom under the sponsorship of Shaikha Mouza Bint Nasser Al Missnad, wife of the Emir of Qatar, who attended the ceremony.

"The Doha Centre is a progressive step in the protection and support of freedom of expression and in the safekeeping of the fundamental freedoms of speech guaranteed by the Qatari constitution," said Shaikh Hamad Bin Thamer Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatar TV Corporation after the signing.

The initiative follows up on emiri decree No. 86/2007 of last December which envisaged the creation of the centre to be financed by the Qatari authorities and run independently by Reporters Without Borders.

"Our purpose will be to support media freedom first and foremost in Qatar and the Arab world but also in the rest of the world," said Robert Menard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders.

In the next month, the organisation will identify a location and appoint the management of the centre after finalising its statutes and rules of management, he said.

Asked to comment on the case of a French journalist, Aurelien Colly, who was prevented from entering Qatar in December after being blacklisted by the immigration authorities, Menard said he was unaware of the issue, which has drawn the attention of French journalists associations and union.

Reporters Without Borders placed Qatar in the 79th rank out of 169 countries included in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2007, but the organisation did not provide an in-depth analysis of Qatar's media freedom status.

The Gulf country has still in place the Press and Publication Law 7/1997 that envisages the arbitrary closure of media establishments by the government with no possibility of appealing to a local court.

It requires also journalists to obtain a governmental licence to operate and allows the government to sue any journalist working without such a permit.

In the meantime, in a recent setback for media freedom in the country, the local judiciary has announced in a statement distributed to the press the banning of journalists from covering court stories without obtaining previous permission from the courtrooms' presidents.

Some reporters of English and Arabic newspapers have been banned by local ministries from covering stories related to workers' issues without prior permission, journalists spoke privately. However, it was not immediately possible to get a reaction from the Qatari authorities yesterday.

In an earlier interview, Yahia Shukkier, a renowned media freedom activist, said despite the popularity of the controversial satellite news channel Al Jazeera, other media in Qatar suffer from extensive self censorship due to direct and indirect pressures from public departments and publishers.