Editor In Chief

Khalid Al Sayed
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

It’s almost a month since President Bashar Al Assad’s regime  begrudgingly agreed to UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan’s 6-point peace plan. Yet violence still continues to rock Syria, with two bomb blasts hitting Damascus and Aleppo this week while reports of Syrian army’s assault on various rebel strongholds is daily news.

The latest army actions raise doubts as to whether the bloody 14-month uprising can be resolved through diplomacy at all. Assad’s regime continues to show its blatant disregard for the peace plan by not complying with even the basic stipulation of the peace plan: Ceasefire and withdraw heavy military from civilian areas. So, what happens next?

UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon on Tuesday said that the situation in Syria has reached an “intolerable stage” and he would speed up the deployment of more UN monitors in the country. Meanwhile, France’s Foreign Minister Alain Juppe announced that France will ask the UN to consider military action if the international peace plan fails to stop the violence. That is in line with the US position on the issue.

However, all this talk of military intervention notwithstanding, very little has come off. Even the imposition of a no-fly zone, mildest of all military actions against Syria, has been met with much indecision in various countries.

As the international community continues to be divided on whether to authorise the use of military force to end the conflict in Syria, hundreds of people in the country are killed in the continued violence and thousands are fleeing the country. According to the latest tally by the United Nations as of late March, the uprising had claimed the lives of 9,000 people. There are around 24,000 Syrian refugees displaced by the conflict in Lebanon while around 23,000 more are in Turkey with Jordan also housing the same number of refugees. Human rights groups and charities estimate the number to be much higher and rising.

With no concrete solution in sight, the question is: How many more Syrian lives must be sacrificed before the international community finally takes military action? Is the international community waiting for another massacre to happen similar to the one in Kosovo before Nato finally approved the airstrikes in 1999 after the peace talks failed?

The future generations will hold the international community, the United Nations and the Arab League responsible for the thousands of lives already lost while Syria is descending towards an all-out civil war. Washing their hands off is not an option; the blood of countless Syrians are already on their hands.

Besides Russia and China’s veto on the UN resolution calling for Assad to step down, this reluctance to call for strong armed action against Syria, particularly by supposedly powerful Western nations, could be because they are currently busy with elections in their countries.

The US is in the election year while UK recently concluded their local elections. France just elected a new president replacing former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had been a keen supporter for military action in Libya.

France’s newly-elected President Francois Hollande has said during his election campaign that he supported military action against Syria as long as it was within the UN framework. It remains to be seen whether or not he would follow through on his promise.

The current administrations of these countries are either not inclined to make decisions that could possibly derail their election train or they are newly elected into the position and need time to consolidate their governments. If this is the case then the possibility of a solution to the Syrian crisis, particularly a military one, is not in the cards anytime soon.

Nevertheless, evading the decision to take military action on the Syrian crisis in order to win an election is not exactly a wise move. The dynamic nature of the crisis means there are other “players” who want to take advantage of the situation. By the time the United Nations or the Arab League finally decides to take military action, they may be already at a disadvantage.

It will then be difficult for them to gain the trust and respect not only of the Syrian people but also the people of other nations, who see these institutions as ineffective and no real power and relevance in the real world. In the meantime, more Syrian people will continue to die.

Khalid Al Sayed
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Today we mark the World Press Free-dom Day, which celebrates the principles of Press freedom and the important role the media play in promoting people’s rights and democracy globally.

This day also pays tribute to the many soldiers of the media in the line of duty. Press freedom is a measure of the level of public liberties in a country.

This day, we must reflect on the status of press freedom in the Arab world and the challenges the media face in the wake of the Arab Spring. The Spring unrests have pushed Arab journalists to go beyond the confines of government-fed statements and dig deeper in order to provide balanced, fact-based news that readers and audiences demand.

It is a chance for media to showcase its grit for the benefit of and in defence of the Arab people’s right to self-expression. Many reports and studies by international organisations still show the Middle East as one of the worst performing areas in terms of media freedom in the absence of independent media and continuing government control, sometimes repression.

A closer look at the Arab media since the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolts, put them in two categories. One that covers an event from a distance without digging deep and looking into its implications. The other is involved in the event itself. In some instances, it even plays a catalyst in making the event happen such as encouraging oppressed people to protest for change. Objectivity is often lost and hidden agendas are at play.

The Arab Spring has brought about significant changes to the media in the region in terms of the freedom of expression. These changes can be seen as positive or negative by looking at their coverage of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Some media companies saw the uprisings as an opportunity and rode the tide of popular unrest by standing in solidarity with the people. These media played a political role by raising the issues to the international level and mobilised world opinion in favour of the Arab people’s uprising. They were also the ones who used their professional experience to separate facts from lies and show the actual events happening on the ground at a time when the prevailing media regulations encouraged hiding the truth.

Other media companies, particularly those controlled by the regimes, saw the unrests as a bad omen and an end to their monopoly on information. They lost credibility with their coverage of the uprisings with their biased support for the regimes and blatant disregard for principles of journalism and responsible for the Arab citizens’ distrust of the media in general. As some of the regimes in which these media companies operate have fallen, there is a possibility that a revolution in the media will also occur.

Independent media have strongly contributed to bring about the Arab Spring revolts, the revolution in turn has contributed to the liberation of the local media. However, change in the media organisations and environment have not been easy. Until now, prevailing media structures have continued with little to no change.

Although, some media personalities have been kicked out of office in Arab Spring countries, majority of the media workforce as well as media policies and practices have remained virtually the same. Journalists in Arab Spring countries were supposed to have regained their freedom, but they still face some form of censorship.

Governments of countries that have not yet experienced the uprisings must learn from those that have. They must be aware of the effects that repressive policies may have on their people, especially when it comes to restricting freedom of expression. They should start implementing reforms in their media laws as well as other laws pertaining to freedom of expression before their people rise up against them.

The freedom of expression enjoyed by the Qatari media today is due largely to the single most important step taken by the Emir, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in abolishing censorship. His was one of the first in the region. Despite the efforts of the Emir to create a climate that encourages freedom of information, the Qatari media needs to do more in order to fully make use of this liberty and highlight the country’s role in various fields..

With the spread of social media and networking sites, we are now in need of efficient, transparent and professional radio, print and broadcast channels that will cater to the rapid developments taking place in the country and in Qatari society. Qatar is currently in the process of building its future with the numerous major projects it has undertaken.

Qatari media face a lot of challenges and have a long way to go that requir hard work and sacrifices. People in the media should have a mind free from old constraints but at the same time not forget their cultural identity. This is a call for all media people, both Qatari and non-Qatari to contribute in the country’s development, showing to the world our love for Qatar.

The current media trend in Qatar does not go well with the cultural renaissance needed to lead it to a bright future,  even with the establishment of Aljazeera network.

We find that Aljazeera does not focus on the crucial events happening in the country, whether economic or social. It is supposed to occupy a vital position in shedding light on various issues affecting Qatar with its large professional workforce and technologically-advanced equipment capable of monitoring and analyzing large amounts of data and information.

The only indication that Qatar is becoming the hub for freedom of expression is the number of prestigious international conferences held in the country in recent years, which has given a boost to Qatar’s profile in the international community.

Nevertheless, this culture of freedom of expression manifested in the international arena must also be accompanied by actual practice in local communities since it is the core component of community life. Freedom to express one’s opinions does not only come through parliamentary elections and civil society organisations.

The government must play role in educating and disseminating awareness about and fostering the culture of freedom of expression in the community and help develop the mechanisms needed to support this freedom in line with our principles and Islamic values, including the implementation of a media law, which we have long awaited but have yet to see realised.

We have taken great strides in the right direction and we are optimistic we will continue to do more in the future. However, we feel that the steps we seem to be taking towards attaining our goals are slow for a rapidly-changing world.

The Peninsula

With the 2006 Asian Games, Qatar made its foray into international sports and has since made great strides in perfecting the art and science of managing such events with the hosting of the Arab Games last year and going full steam in preparing for World Cup 2022. Its ambition now is to host the world’s biggest sports event — the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2020.

What gives Qatar’s Olympic bid the necessary fire power despite its oft-repeated handicaps of size and weather conditions is the country’s commitment to develop a culture of sports in the region and in particular bringing unprecedented opportunities to women of the region to play a greater role in the global sports movement. For Qatar, sport is not an after-thought. It’s part of the country’s development process and its vision for the future. The opportunity to host the Olympics is part of its many efforts to bridge the gap between the Islamic world and rest of the world, the West in particular.

That’s the vision the Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the President of Qatar Olympic Committee and who led a high-level delegation of Doha 2020 Bid Committee, presented to the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) meeting in Moscow on Saturday.

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