NEWS AGENCY HEAD QUESTIONS INFORMATION MINISTER'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 003860

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI (DBERNS)
NEA/PPD (CWHITTLESEY)
NEA/PA (FFINVER)
ECA/P/V (CBROWN)
ECA/P/V/F (LWEBER)
ECA/P/C (LPEREZ)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV KPAO KMDR PHUM KU
SUBJECT: NEWS AGENCY HEAD QUESTIONS INFORMATION MINISTER'S
PLAN, SAYS GOVERNMENT NOT READY FOR PRESS CRITICISM

REF: A. KUWAIT 3704

B. KUWAIT 3057

C. KUWAIT 1493

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: In an amiable, wide-ranging meeting between
Ambassador and Mohammed Al-Ajeeri, the Director General of
the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA),on August 26, the Director
General discussed his thoughts on the Minister of
Information's plan for restructuring the ministry, the status
of a draft press and publications law, and the prospect of
exchanges between American journalism organizations and
schools and KUNA staff. Al-Ajeeri suggested that there would
be a tug-of-war between himself and the minister over KUNA's
fate in the proposed restructuring, and said that the fate of
the draft law was uncertain because senior government
officials would insist, against the wishes of
parliamentarians, on mandating jail time for press law
violations. End Summary.

"He Wants to Touch My Agency"
--------------


2. (C) Al-Ajeeri visibly recoiled when Ambassador brought up
the plan by Minister of Information Dr. Anas Al-Reshaid to
restructure the ministry, of which KUNA is a part (ref. A and
B). "He wants to touch my agency," Al-Ajeeri said
distastefully. Al-Ajeeri stated that the plan was hastily
prepared, because the minister, he speculated, was in a hurry
to make an impact. Al-Ajeeri added that there were elements
of the ministry that needed support, such as the television
arm, and approved the concept of improving these, but said
that the minister should not interfere in the workings of
KUNA. The problem with the ministry, according to Al-Ajeeri,
was that there were no provisions for firing bad workers,
which had the dual result of institutionalizing
unsatisfactory performers and sapping motivation from those
willing to work hard. Al-Ajeeri pointed out that while KUNA,
like the ministry at large, was unable to fire
underperformers, the agency avoided a wider malaise with a
system of merit-based promotions to maintain motivation and
reward top performers.

Not Ready for Real Criticism
--------------


3. (C) Asked by the Ambassador about the prospects for
passage of a new press and publications law in Kuwait's
upcoming legislative session, Al-Ajeeri expressed his
misgivings. At issue, he stated, was a disagreement over
appropriate punishment for violations of the law, such as
libel. The government, Al-Ajeeri indicated, was insisting on
jail time for violations, while parliamentarians are "against
any punishment that results in prison." Because of this
disagreement, Al-Ajeeri asserted, there would be no new press
law for now.


4. (C) The larger problem, he said, was that high-ranking
officials are not ready to be criticized in a serious way. He
argued that officials were "not fit for real democracy" --
real democrats, he noted, not only suffered criticism, but
encouraged critics. "If you are a public person, I should
criticize your work," Al-Ajeeri said.

Training and Exchanges
--------------


5. (U) A discussion of professional exchanges and cooperative
training ventures began and ended the meeting. Al-Ajeeri
asked Ambassador to foster familiarization tours by KUNA
reporters and administrators to the U.S., where they could
meet with their counterparts at news agencies, journalism
schools, and professional organizations to share expertise
and best practices. Al-Ajeeri characterized these trips as
"visits," rather than training, to "see what is going on,"
but also said that he would like to send some of his senior
staffers for advanced training.


6. (U) Al-Ajeeri extolled the virtues of KUNA's own in-house
training center, the KUNA Center for Training and Development
of Media Skills, which offers introductory training for new
employees and regular, five-week intensive training workshops
in specialized areas. He said that U.S. expert visitors to
the training center would be welcome, and encouraged
cooperation on such efforts between the Embassy and the
center's director, Lamia Al-Humaidhi, whom he called into the
meeting towards the end, as training and exchanges once again
came up in the discussion.

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LEBARON