UAE ARAB MEDIA CONFERENCE CALLS FOR REDUCED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 000959

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: UAE ARAB MEDIA CONFERENCE CALLS FOR REDUCED
GOVERNMENT ROLE

REF: ABU DHABI 158


1. (U) The Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and
Research (ECSSR) held its annual conference entitled "Arab
Media in the Information Age" January 9-11, 2005. A common
theme throughout the conference was the need for Arab
governments to reduce their roles in controlling the media.
Despite a large number of American and Arab-American
presenters, the tone of the conference was decidedly anti-
American. Wadhah Khanfar, general manager of Al-Jazeera,
was hailed as a strong symbol of resistance against both the
U.S. and Arab regimes. Several speakers and attendees
raised ethical concerns about the issue of journalists
embedded with U.S. forces. End Summary


2. (U) Information Specialist, IRC Director and PAO Abu
Dhabi attended several sessions of the 2005 ECSSR
conference. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE
Minister of Defense and Crown Prince of Dubai and Sheikh
Abdullah Bin Zayed, Minister of Information and youngest son
of former UAE President Zayed, delivered keynote addresses
(see reftel). Twenty-eight speakers from the UAE, other GCC
countries, the U.S., U.K., Germany and other countries
participated. Some of the more prominent speakers included:

--Dr. Ali Fakhro, Minister of Education, Bahrain
--Abdulrahman Al-Rashed, GM of Al-Arabiyah
--Greg Dike, Former CEO of the BBC
--Wadhah Khanfar, GM of Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel
--Jean Abi Nader, Arab-American Institute
--James Zogby, Director of the Arab-American Institute
--Jack Shaheen, Professor of Mass Communication, University
of Southern Illinois
--Dr. Hussein Ibish, an American freelance journalist
--Michael Hudson, Professor of Arab Contemporary Studies,
Georgetown University


3. (U) Despite the large number of American and Arab-
American speakers, the tone during the three-day conference
was critical of the United States. Information Specialist
Abu Dhabi witnessed a distinctively anti-American tone in
the question and answer sessions following each session by
an American presenter. Conference participants accused
American media institutions of double standards as related
to media freedom. They stated that U.S. media organizations
claim to promote freedom of the media in the Arab world on
the one hand, but at the same time routinely accuse Arab
media outlets of promoting hatred and extremism because they
broadcast reports critical of U.S. policies.

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AL-JAZEERA - HEROES THAT CONTINUE TO DEFY THE U.S.
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4. (U) Wadhah Khanfar, general manager of Al-Jazeera, was
one of the stars of the conference. His lecture on day one
was one of the most widely attended and well received. His
paper, entitled, "Credibility of News Channels: Competing
for Viewers" addressed the credibility of news channels in
general, and the perceived high degree of credibility of Al-
Jazeera in the Arab world, in particular. In response to a
question posed by a member of the audience about whether
media professionals should be neutral in covering all news,
Khanfar responded as follows,

".out of my experience, I can say that you cannot be neutral
all of the time. When I was covering Mosul in Northern
Iraq, I caught on camera looters and thieves that ran into
the city's museum, one of the most important museums in
Iraq. I thought for a moment about whether I should remain
neutral in covering such an event, but at once decided to
take a position. If I had remained neutral, I would have
had to interview one of the looters and pass his opinions on
to my viewers. I could never do this." He concluded by
stating that, ".in questions that are clearly black and
white, you simply cannot remain neutral." This remark
elicited thunderous applause by the audience of several
hundred. During the discussion following the presentation,
a member of the audience attributed the on-going
confrontation between the USG and Al-Jazeera to a desire by
the USG to include its disagreements with Al-Jazeera in its
overall war with Arabs and Muslims. Another audience member
stated that Wadhah Khanfar and Al-Jazeera have become, and
continue to be, heroes in the Arab world because they
represent the only institutions, including corrupt Arab
regimes, capable of defying the will of the U.S.

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AMERICAN "LIBERATION" OF IRAQ COMMENT ELICITS PROFANITY FROM
YEMENI OFFICIAL
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6. (U) Hussein Sinjari, an Iraqi Kurd and president of the
Iraqi Institute for Democracy, spoke on the Impact of
Occupation on Freedom of the Press. He cited several
examples of positive developments, including an end to the
repressive conditions experienced by journalists, a "sky
rocketing" in the number of new, independent newspapers, and
the absence of censorship. He also highlighted some of the
challenges, including partisan interference and unequal
access to advertising. At one point during the
presentation, Sinjari referred several times to the American
occupation of Iraq as "Iraqi liberation." In response to
this reference, a representative of the Yemeni Ministry of
Information, stormed out of the room, angrily shouting
profanities at Mr. Sinjari.





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EMBEDDED JOURNALISM, GOVERNMENT CONTROL AND ARAB-AMERICAN
MEDIA SUMMIT
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7. (U) Throughout the conference, speakers and participants
hotly debated the issue of embedded journalists accompanying
U.S. forces in combat zones. Dr. Richard Caplan, official
fellow in International Relations at the Oxford University,
gave a presentation entitled, "Media Credibility in War:
The Phenomenon of Embedded Reports." Dr. Caplan asserted
that while embedded journalism is not new, efforts by the
DOD to influence and control news coverage was of concern.
He suggested that by embedding journalists with combat
forces, the quality of reporting could be negatively
affected, resulting in a uni-dimensional perspective that
expresses sympathy and bias toward his/her host forces. He
also indicated that self-censorship, uncritical use of
government materials and lack of local knowledge, also
affect the quality of reporting. During the ensuring
discussion, participants expressed concern that the U.S.
Administration is attempting to control the free flow of
information from Iraq by not allowing journalists to operate
independently. There was a general agreement among the
session participants, that embedded journalists lose their
objectivity and are subjected to the ethical dilemma of
getting too close to the soldiers.


8. (U) Press coverage of the conference focused on
liberating media professionals and organizations from the
constraints of government control. In a report entitled,
"Do not take us lightly, warn Arab journalists," Addul Aziz
Al Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief of the As Siyassah newspaper in
Kuwait noted that, "Freedom is very limited and most Arab
governments have come to power in other ways than general
elections.the Arab media as a product of civil society is
non-existent.we need a long time to remove the impact of
Arab governments on the formation of the Arab media."
Abdullah Al Olayan of the Oman Establishment for Press,
News, Publications and Advertising indicated that Arab
governments have sought to maintain continuous control over
their media institutions. He stated that, "The Arab media
has remained under the control of their governments in order
to serve their.goals." He went on to state that he hoped the
advent of the information age would lead to a decline in the
influence of Arab governments on the media.

9. (U) Several leading non-media professionals spoke about
the influence of Arab media on education, criticizing these
media institutions for being highly commercialized and
compromising standards and quality. Dr. Ali Mohammed
Fakhro, former Bahraini Education Minister, indicated that
young Arabs today have diverse sources of knowledge due to
the Arab media renaissance and cited the need for managed
and balanced interaction between these sources. He went on
to say that the potential negative effects of the Arab media
on the development and growth of youth are so powerful that
they threaten to fully counter the benefits of education.
In an effort to offset this effect, he called for greater
linkage and coordination between the media and education
institutions in the Arab world. Dr. Ali Q. Al Shuaibi,
Director of the Security Awareness Department, Dubai Police,
warned that the ability of the media to negatively affect
Arab youth is a "real ethical catastrophe." He stated that
the Arab media was heavily influenced by western values, in
contradiction to traditional Arab values.


10. (U) Jack Shaheen, Professor Emeritus of the School of
Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University and
prominent Arabist, called for an international summit to be
hosted in the U.S., focusing on Arab-American media
relations. The summit would seek to defuse Islamic-American
tensions and help reduce dehumanizing stereotypes. "It is
imperative that a.summit take place, one that allows
Americans and Arab image-makers an opportunity to.exchange
views. As a result of the summit, the word, Arab.might no
longer remain a synonym for terrorist."

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COMMENT
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11. (U) During the 2005 ECSSR Annual Conference three
opinions about the Arab media emerged. Some education
officials and other non-media professionals expressed a
backward-thinking perspective attributing concerns about
commercialism and lack of quality programming to "negative
Western influences." They challenged Arab media
institutions to play a positive role in the development of
their societies by focusing on promoting core Arab and
Islamic values, rather than seeking profit and market share.
In contrast, UAE government officials, (reftel) called on
attendees to serve as the driving force of media reform in
the Arab world, blamed Arab governments for stifling dissent
and called for an end to laws confining the Arab media. The
media professionals themselves were strongly critical of
Arab governments imposing limits on the media and accused
them of using the media for their own purposes, rather than
for the benefit of their societies. At the same time, they
exhibited strong support for Wahdah Khanfar and Al-Jazeera,
highlighting the defiant streak among Arab media
institutions against the perceived efforts of the USG and
U.S.-based media organizations to undermine Al-Jazeera's
credibility and wide support in the Arab world.

SISON