Thursday, June 19, 2008

EDITOR OF KUWAIT TIMES SPEAKS ON PRESS CENSORSHIP AT AWARE CENTER

EDITOR OF KUWAIT TIMES SPEAKS ON PRESS CENSORSHIP AT AWARE CENTER

By Kevin Stoda


On June 10, Jamie Etheridge, the Texas-born managing editor of the KUWAIT TIMES
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/ , one of Kuwaits 3 major English daily newspapers, led a diwaniya at the AWARE CENTER where she focused on censorship in the Kuwaiti press. Etheridge, who arrived in Kuwait from Texas in 2004, also writes for STRATFOR and the CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR.

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Etheridge began the diwaniya, a Kuwaiti word for meeting whereby a speaker talks from fifteen minutes to half an hour on particular topic. This sort of diwaniya is then followed by open comments and questions from the audience. (Diwaniya also means a particular place for regular meetings held by various families or tribes in the area.)


PROBLEMS WITH CENSORSHIP


Concerning censorship in Kuwait, Etheridge noted that there are three main forms or sources of censorship. These are (1) journalist’s self-censorship, (2) difficulties in persuading sources to go public, and (3) adverse pressures from advertisers--or from advertising in general.

Etheridge began the discussion be stating: “The greatest problem journalists face here in Kuwait is self-censorship. This is particularly true for Arab journalists who are pretty aware of how writings will affect certain communities in Kuwait.” This refers to how families, tribes, and well-connected personages will respond to any particular article or report.

Kuwait is country of approximately the size of New Jersey, and most people live in a relatively small urban area along the central coast. Therefore, in one sense, Kuwait is like a village of 3 million people. There are 11 daily newspapers here and most of them are targeted at the wealthy Kuwaiti population, who make up less than one-third of the city state’s total population. Only the English language dailies target the much larger ex-patriate community.

There is also some degree of official censorship, for example it is against the law to say bad things about the Emir of the country and to make fun of religion. Etheridge provided one example of when her paper got into trouble for displaying a political cartoon with the image of God in it. In that case, the newspaper had to print an apology and pay a fine.

Fear of censorship and worries about what certain families and cliques in society will think or do in reaction to any particular article leads to a greater form of censorship in Kuwait—i.e. self-censorship--just as such self-censorship function in most of small-town USA or possibly just about corner of the globe, where local feelings dominate the press on a wide variety of issues.

Last month, one of Etheridge’s journalists had decided to write about a fascinating park in Kuwait, where homosexuals meet regularly. The journalists had made a great pitch for the story and the interest it would bring.

However, after the article began to be written, this same journalist began to get cold feet and demanded that his/her name not be used on the piece. More disturbing still--to the editors--was the fact that the article had lost much of the specificity the journalist had originally share in terms of describing the where, who, and why of the location. In short, that Arab writer was becoming more and more concerned about the bad backwash such an article would have on family, friends and acquaintances in Kuwait. (See that article here in its final form: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTI3MTUyNjA0OA== )

Thus, self-censorship not only led to this journalist removing his/her name from the piece, but the story had become a bit more vague, ethereal and nebulous in terms of space, time and source of quotations by the time it was published.


GETTING SOURCES TO BE QUOTED IN KUWAIT


Etheridge continued, “Sourcing is the second most important” phenomena adversely related to censorship “as faced by the press in Kuwait. Here in Kuwait there are just so many sources who refuse to allow journalists to use there name—even public officials and figures who should be responsible to the public.”

Etheridge then provided the example of how it took her newspaper over a month to badger and persuade officials at the Ministry of Education to create and release documents—and to make official statements about the ministry’s recent changes in school fees (mandated by that same ministry) affecting the majority of schools in Kuwait. (See: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzM4MTA1NDU1
In most countries this sort of news story would have been a straight forward report. The appropriate ministry in most any land would simply have released to the press in a timely manner the new rates affecting the majority of schools in the 2008-2009 school year. The problem here is that the government and society desires a veil of secrecy over the greater part of information in the public domain.

In this case, by the end of May most of the ongoing enrollment for this 2008-2009 period in Kuwait already was over, but still the government ministries involved had neither notified the schools nor the hundreds of thousands of affected parents and students as to what the new fees to be charged would be. In short, the KUWAIT TIMES staff found that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education had trouble finding any official or office that was willing to go public on these important changes affecting most of Kuwaiti school children.

In other words, rumors and secrecy rather than responsible officials and accountable sources rule the day throughout the Kuwaiti bureaucracy—rated one of the least transparent governments on the planet.

NOTE: Some Kuwaitis, such as those involved with the local Transparency International chapter are pushing for reform and the government under the Emir is pushing for greater transparency. Kuwaitis should see this web site if they wish to get involved with the newest reports: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/promoting_revenue_transparency/in_english/companies_report_2008 ]

Etheridge added, “Likewise, even people in the street will often not give their name when we our doing an [otherwise innocuous] survey.”

This was exemplified by a recent KUWAIT TIMES survey of the ex-pat community in Kuwait on a proposed new law in Kuwait—an outrageous bill which would segregate hospitals officially in practice throughout Kuwait. That is, the new law proposes that one section of the hospitals be for Kuwaitis only to use—while all other 2-million plus ex-pats would be required to go to another entrance.

Etheridge noted, “Many, many ex-pats refused to put their names alongside their opinions during the interviews on this topic.”

All-in-all, expatriates seem to quickly learn how life functions in Kuwait. Don’t attach your name to any of your opinions!

Later, one audience member commented, “Many readers [in Kuwait] could care less if you don’t quote the name of the source because they understand the context of Kuwait”, i.e. a place where anonymous sources are preferred.

This is partially the result of archaic laws and societal practices by which (1) victims, especially women who are victims of crimes, rape or violence, may refuse to give their names out of fear of staining their family’s name.

The legal system allows the police officer taking the claim of abuse and throw the report into the garbage if the victim refuses to give his or her name. In Kuwait this means that the sometimes lackadaisical police in the country are not obligated to even go to the crime scene and investigate or interview parties where the most obvious of disturbances or crimes have apparently taken place.


THE ADVERTISERS

According to Etheridge, the third major problem is one that most every newspaper around the world has to face each day. This problem has to do with advertisers and advertising.

Etheridge claims that the fact is: “We can’t print without them [i.e. advertisers].”

The KT managing editor, Etheridge notes, “I’ve had advertisers pull their accounts due to our stories. This is why I have to work closely with the advertising department at our newspaper.”

At this point in the diwaniya, an important question was raised by the audience: “Anywhere worldwide--where does press freedom begin and where does it end?”

Etheridge replied that limits to Freedom of the Press should always depend on the local community, however, she added, “One should be able to criticize the government.”

On the one hand, Etheridge explains, “We should have enough transparency so that a government official provide us with information on government tenders and other important governmental activities” Censorship should not be carried out by withholding or even refusing to produce proper documentation.

On the other hand, Etheridge, who comes from Austin, Texas where she graduated from journalism school, notes that although she may agree that Hustler magazine has the right to be published, but such a magazine does not have the right—in her opinion—to be displayed and sold everywhere and in every community where her children can get their hands on the Hustler. Parents in every community should help a community determine what the limits on Freedom of the Press are to be. [She distinguishes between freedom of the press and the freedom of speech.]


KUWAIT’S HIGH LEVEL OF PRESS FREEDOM

According to Etheridge and most observers, Kuwait’s level of freedom of the press normally outshines that form of journalism experienced by readers in all other neighboring countries.

In addition to the 3 English language dailies, Kuwait has at least 8 other daily Arabic papers and most of them do better in terms of producing an open forum than do all the other newspapers in the neighboring countries, including Bahrain, Qatar and Emirates.

It wasn’t always this way.

Even as late as 1991, the Kuwaiti government actually even had official censors assigned to each newspaper in the land—and the same has been true for TV stations until fairly recently.

Nonetheless, through the tradition of diwaniyas—where wide-ranging public debate has typically taken place in Kuwait over several centuries—Kuwait’s level of public discourse on issues-of-the-day far surpasses what is often experienced by many other Arab states in the region (and in north Africa or Western Asia).

This means that in general, Kuwaiti society if very supportive of freedom of the press.


LAPSES IN MEDIA REPORTING IN KUWAIT: Human Trafficking


At this junction, another audience member asked why there hasn’t been more regular reporting about violence and crime in the newspapers . Nor is much known about what can be done by ex-pats to seek social justice in Kuwait.

This is particularly true of the Arab language press which is biased toward Kuwaiti viewpoint and not particularly supportive of Palestinian and other nationality viewpoints.

Etheridge replied, “There is real human interest in the topics of suffering people, but at times a new angle is needed to prick the public’s interest” or to spur one story or another to be of interest enough to publish on.

For example, much has been printed recently in Kuwait about Kuwait’s local ranking by the U.S. government in terms of improving human rights within its own borders. (See one such article here: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzU2Mzk3NTk5
) This is because the appointment of a new U.S. Ambassador dovetailed with a human rights report placing Kuwait in the lower third of states fighting human trafficking.

Awareness of rights in Kuwait is a problem as is a lack of substantial awareness among the ex-pat community about their own access to Kuwaiti law, i.e. which could protect them and aid those being abused by unscrupulous ex-pats and Kuwaitis.

Etheridge explains that whenever the U.S. government blacklists a country for it’s lack of human rights, it is a political move—not necessarily a means of making life immediately easier for all those involved.

On the other hand, Muslim on Muslim violence in Kuwait is beyond the acceptable level according to the Asian newspapers I have seen. See the detailed story in one Bangladeshi paper whose author also seems to be reticent or afraid to name names in Kuwait as are the local papers: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/index.php?id=245 One of the quotes of that report from WEEKLY BLITZ states, concerning a victim imprisoned in Kuwait: “Hasina told a friend, who recently visited her in prison [in Kuwait], ‘The purgatory of Bangladesh is far better than the Kuwaiti paradise.’”

Another quote from the same article charges, “Hasina’s ordeal is a pattern of human trafficking, i.e. slavery in the 21st century in the Middle East, in particular in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and Qatar. All human rights organizations and the US State Department, for years now, have classified these countries among the worst in terms of human trafficking. Kuwait and the other Arab countries on the Persian Gulf have been urged to do something against human trafficking, but to no avail.”

On the other hand, Etheridge points out that a lot of the human trafficking occurs after people arrive in Kuwait—and not prior to it—which is different than is the case for those émigrés fleeing to Europe or the United States these days. These peoples in European a the USA are more often are involved in illegal recruitment and trafficking before they arrive in those Western countries.

This implies that the issue with Kuwait and other Middle Eastern lands is that the government potentially can do a lot more to improve treatment and protections of foreign labor upon their arrival—as most of them arrive legally in Kuwait rather than illegally, before being forced into human slavery by being kidnapped, by having their passport taken away, etc.




NOTES

Bowman, Dylon, “Kuwait Defends Human Trafficking Record”, http://www.arabianbusiness.com/522230-kuwait-defends-human-trafficking-record?ln=en

Etheridge, Jamie, “Kuwait Caps Consumer Loans, Tackles Inflation”,
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=Mjc1Nzg4Mzk1

Etheridge, Jamie, “Kuwait Oil Plan Stirs Nationalist Fervor” http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0316/p07s02-wome.html

Etheridge, Jamie, “Understanding the Private School Fee Hikes”, http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzM4MTA1NDU1

Garcia, Ben, “New U.S. Ambassador Scolds Kuwait on Human Trafficking”, http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzU2Mzk3NTk5

“Kuwait Media Restrictions Slammed”, http://www.arabianbusiness.com/513776-kuwait-slammed-over-media-restrictions

“Kuwait—Fighting Corruption, Terrorism and Human Rights Violations”, http://q80dictator.blogspot.com/2005/10/transparency-internationalcorruption.html

Staff Reporter, “Dangers at the Park”, http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTI3MTUyNjA0OA==

Stoda, Kevin, “Kuwait Inc, etc.” http://alone.gnn.tv/links/1758/KUWAIT_INC_GULF_ARAB_INC_AMERICA_INC_China_and_Other_Incs

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