Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ABUDHABI158
2005-01-10 11:34:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

ARAB MEDIA REFORM - "NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO SELL

Tags:  OIIP KMDR TC PREL PGOV 
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Diana T Fritz 12/05/2006 11:47:23 AM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
UNCLAS ABU DHABI 00158

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: PAO
 INFO: POL AMB DCM

DISSEMINATION: PAO
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AMB:MSISON
DRAFTED: APAO:DEDGINTON
CLEARED: A/DCM:OJOHN PAO:HOLSIN-WINDECKER

VZCZCADI506
OO RUEHC RUENAAA RUEKJCS RUEHZM RUEHLO RUEHFR
RHRMDAB RUCJACC RUCQSOC RHEHNSC
DE RUEHAD #0158/01 0101134
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101134Z JAN 05
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7625
INFO RUENAAA/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0872
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0909
RHRMDAB/COMUSNAVCENT
RUCJACC/USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
RUCQSOC/USCINCSOC MACDILL AFB FL//PA//
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000158 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA;
INR/NESA; INR/B; IIP/G/NEA-SA
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
USCINCCENT FOR POLAD
LONDON PASS TO MOC, ALSO FOR GOLDRICH; PARIS FOR
ZEYA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC PREL PGOV

SUBJECT: ARAB MEDIA REFORM - "NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO SELL
ILLUSIONS"


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000158

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA;
INR/NESA; INR/B; IIP/G/NEA-SA
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
USCINCCENT FOR POLAD
LONDON PASS TO MOC, ALSO FOR GOLDRICH; PARIS FOR
ZEYA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC PREL PGOV

SUBJECT: ARAB MEDIA REFORM - "NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO SELL
ILLUSIONS"



1. (U) Summary: On January 9 the Emirates Center for
Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi opened its three
day 2005 conference entitled "Arab Media in the Information
Age." Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR),Crown
Prince of Dubai, delivered an emphatic message, as keynote
speaker, seeking to encourage attendees to serve as the
driving force for media reform in the Arab world. He said
that reform must take priority and come from within the Arab
world, and faulted Arab governments for suppressing dissent.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of
Information and Culture, followed MBR, calling for an end to
the laws that confine the Arab media and criticizing Arab
society for its intolerance. The director-general of Al-
Jazeera described the channel's new internal code of
conduct. End Summary



-------------- --------------
MBR - MEDIA SHOULD PROMOTE THE GULF MESSAGE: ENLIGHTENMENT,
DEVELOPMENT, MODERATION, MODERNIZATION
-------------- --------------


2. (U) In his opening address, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
described the media as an integrated part of society, "If
society.is a ship, media.is the pilothouse.steering it.in
calm or rough seas." He criticized totalitarian governments
that misuse the media for self-serving purposes. MBR
indicated that technology had increased people's access to
information and created an environment in which it would,
"no longer be possible to sell illusions, to justify failure
with manufactured excuses or to re-label defeats and
victories." To this end, MBR identified the first major
challenge for the Arab media as establishing credibility and
authenticity among the people it serves.


3. (U) In describing the challenge of change the Arab world
currently faces, MBR distilled it down to a disagreement
between traditionalists and reformers about "basic concepts
such as development, reform, managing the state and the
right to express one's interests." The Arab world, he went
on to say, is struggling to find an appropriate balance

between legitimate internal demands for reform and demands
for reform from the outside world. Arabs are challenged by
the need for reform and the effect it will inevitably have
on their national identity. The dialogue needed to
reconcile these conflicts should have emanated from the
media, but it was suppressed by governments lacking the
courage to face change. Arab leaders must actively address
this issue by supporting intellectual freedom, protect
intellectuals and accept other opinions.


4. (U) MBR lauded the achievements of the Gulf media in
securing a more effective presence by reaching out to
intellectuals, authors and other media professionals
throughout the Arab World. As leaders in the Arab media
establishment, Gulf media professionals possess a special
responsibility to correct distortions and misperceptions of
Arabs and Muslims in the wider world by engaging in dialogue
with intellectuals, politicians, economists, research
centers and NGOs. They also should play an active role in
promoting a "Gulf message", a message that promotes
enlightenment, encourages development, calls for moderation,
seeks dialogue and promotes modernization in economic,
political and administrative realms. He called on the Arab
media to take these challenges upon themselves, citing that
foreign media organizations will always approach the Gulf
and the Arab world with their own biases and agenda. He
concluded by sharing an optimistic view of the future,
stating that increased transparency, economic growth and
freedom of expression, all resulting from reform, will lead
to greater demand for an objective and free media.

-------------- --------------
ABZ - ADDRESS THE WORLD IN A LANGUAGE IT UNDERSTANDS
-------------- --------------


5. (U) Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed (ABZ),youngest son of the
late President Sheikh Zayed and Minister of Information and
Culture, called for a re-assessment of the legal framework
within which the Arab media operates. ".What is required is
legislation that guarantees free access to information," he
stated. The first step in comprehensive media reform is the
"emancipation" of the media from laws confining it. The
media should be able to criticize the government and
question its policies.


6. (U) He indicated a failure of Arab media professionals to
honestly report on Arab atrocities, "tapes of murder," and
emphasized this failure by highlighting the independent,
proactive action taken by Western media organizations to
report accurately and honestly on the Abu Gharib abuse
scandal. ABZ called on the media to establish partnerships
with the private sector to broadcast programs about the Arab
world and Islam, "in languages that the world knows, and in
styles it understands." The media must transmit accurate
and balanced perspectives to help enlighten and educate
global opinion about Islam and Arabs. ABZ proposed the
formation of a center to monitor global media about Islam
and Arabs to ensure accurate and balanced reporting, and to
correct false information and distorted analyses.


8. (U) It is impossible for Arab media to paint a "beautiful
picture" of the Arab world when it is such an "ugly
situation," ABZ asserted. Media reform must be part of an
overall reform of Arab institutions and policies. He stated
that in all areas of Arab society there is an intolerance
that rejects outsiders, Muslims and non-Muslim alike, as
"atheists with whom there should be no exchange of views,"
making it is impossible to positively engage Non-Arab, Non-
Muslim audiences about ideals, principles and values that
Arabs and Muslims hold sacred. He concluded by challenging
the media to be the means for reform and change, rather than
suppressing it by distorting the truth.


9. (U) Waddah Khanfar, director-general for Al-Jazeera,
called on fellow media professionals to avoid compromising
their journalistic integrity by allowing outside forces to
influence their reporting. He described Al-Jazeera's new
internal code of conduct and asserted that the code enhanced
Al-Jazeera's credibility. He emphasized that rules and
regulations on journalistic ethics should emanate
internally, and not from government authorities.

SISON