Media Politicization in the United Arab Emirates - Essay Example

Arab News Arabian world differs tremendously from Western society, especially in terms of governmental and economical control over mass-media, including newspapers, television and internet resources. The present essay is designed to draw the main features of Arabian media functioning in the context of governmental vs. private funding and the degree of media politization. The United Arab Emirates is a federation consisting of seven autonomous regions, united in 1971. None of them has independent political institutions or political factions, and there is a high degree of centralization and subordination. "Traditional rule in the emirates generally has been patriarchal, with political allegiance defined in terms of loyalty to the tribal leaders. Political leaders in the emirates are not elected, but citizens may express their concerns directly to their leaders via traditional mechanisms, such as the open majlis, or council" (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2001).According to the Constitution, Federal Supreme Council consists of the seven emirate leaders, which means, all regions have approximately equal access to legislative process. The Council elects President and Vice President directly among its members, and President is entitled to select Cabinet and Prime Minister. In spite of the well-known fact that emirate leaders normally meet in informal settings, the Constitution obliges them to assemble annually and determine legislation, country budget and further social policy. The Cabinet controls and manages the Federation on a daily basis, and the Federal National Council, the major advisory body, constitute a link between the Council and the Cabinet, as FNC officials are expected to provide consulting services to emirate leaders and make queries to the Cabinet, even though FNC has no legislative rights. Every region maintains control over its oil and mineral resources, local economic issues, inter-emirate trade and some aspects of local and regional security. The central Government declares dominance in terms of international affairs, defense strategies, and progressively more in terms of law and the provision of certain government services to population (bbc.co.uk, 2006). Judicial branch in UAE is mostly independent, but the court system is subordinated and in some sense managed by the federal Government, in particular, international cases and all events and crimes, associated with terrorism. Policing in United Arab Emirates is comparatively independent, since each region has its own internal police force, but they all are accountable to hierarchically vertically higher structures. The federation supports the establishment of free commerce and has market economy, basically maintained by oil and natural gas trade as well as light industry, like textiles and garments manufacturing. Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate is economic and political center, as the majority of petrol production businesses are situated in this region. The Emirate of Dubai is likewise an oil producer, as well as a growing financial and commercial center in the Gulf. "The remaining five emirates have negligible petroleum or other resources and therefore depend in varying degrees on federal government subsidies, particularly for basic services such as health care, electricity, water, and education. The economy provides citizens with a high per capita income, but it is heavily dependent on foreign workers, who constitute at least 80 percent of the general population" (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2001). Human rights in UAE are respected, but in fact not realized completely. For instance, there are some biases at governmental level, which support patriarchate and male domination, and correspondingly, there are almost no business or educational newspapers, intended for women. Furthermore, the Government rejects the citizens' right to change or elect authorities, and the press and television still omit or avoid direct criticism of authorities, as the most popular and available newspapers are government-oriented and thus government-funded. Nevertheless, the newspaper known as Al Bayan, which had been a part of Dubai Media Department, was partially privatized in 2003, in order to attract foreign target auditory and reconcile non-Arabs with UAE government (bbc.co.uk, 2006). The Dubai Enquirer, popular satirical newspaper, is now criticized greatly because of its dependence on federal sport organizations and the emphasis on governmentally-supported leisure activities. "Dubai aspires to be a regional and international centre for television and media services, alongside Egypt and Lebanon. An Electronic Commerce and Media Zone Authority was created in 2000 to attract regional and international media outlets. Dubai Media City and its counterparts offer two key advantages: tax benefits and freedom of speech" (ibid). It is also important to note that the largest media companies, such as Reuters and Sony are UK-based and established their satellites directly from London. Abu-Dhabi, the major TV station, has greatest budget and huge governmental influence, and is generally a pro-centralization mass-communication-medium. On the other hand, authorities agree that broadcast extension is a present-day need, thus in 2005 Dubai Media City announced the new program, aimed at nurturing additional broadcast creation. The Dubai Holding Group, domestic private organization, consisting, though, of current regime supporters, intends to create a Broadcast Centre, which is allegedly to help destroy information vacuum and arrange workshop and training for freelance journalists. It needs to be noted that the first assistance propositions were done by UK and US-based investors, who planned to provide about $200 million for the establishment needs. Furthermore, the only UAE studio with appropriate digital capacities belongs to the American University of Sharjah, so the penetration of foreign investors into Arabian media is amplifying from year to year (khalejtimes.com, 2005). There is only one English language TV-channel nonetheless, and in addition, it its broadcast is now reduced to 16 hours per day. "One commercial channel, Channel 4, based on Ajman, commerced broadcasting in 1996. A satellite channel, it broadcasts English language programs as well as Arabi lahguage programs. Satellite dishes are available and relatively affordable in the UAE" (Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, 2005, p.7). Asainsat and Arabsat are found out to be most popular TV-channels (ibid), and Channel 4 in this sense is posed as incapable of competing. He range of cable networks is quite poor, thus the UAE citizens simply have no alternatives to choose among. All mass-media are under the Ministry of Information control, either direct or indirect. All of them must obtain the license from the Ministry, and related laws govern and prescribe the content and context of published or audiovisual materials, so journalists are committed to self-censorship and organize their materials when reporting on governmental and political issues, religion, family planning and international relations. The newspapers are usually founded by emirate leaders - for instance, in December 2000, 'Akhbar-Al-Arab', owned by Al-Nahyan ruling family, came into being. English-language newspapers are less dependent on bureaucratic apparatus, since their owners typically include France, British and American business immigrants, interested in establishing equity and free market in the country, not merely in international matters (Schechter, 2005). According to 2001 Human Rights Report, "following an October 1999 interview with the semiofficial daily newspaper Al-Ittihad, in which Deputy Prime Minister Sultan Bin Zayid Al-Nahyan stated that uncovering inefficiencies in government was one of the duties of the press, newspapers began publishing articles critical of alleged inefficiencies in the delivery of services by the Ministries of Health, Education, and Electricity and Water" (Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 2001). Al-Ittihad was created by local pro-Western activists, and the newspaper was not considered 'fashionable' because of its inconsiderable circulation. Interestingly, in March 2000 the Ministry filed a lawsuit against Gulf News, the English-language Dubai newspaper. The newspaper published a set of satirical essays, mocking Gulf Arabs and their nomenclature stereotypes and was inescapably noticed by the Ministry of Information and identified as deviant. The journalist, who initiated the articles, was subjected to sleep deprivation and spent 2 weeks under custody. The Court canceled the lawsuit after the editor agreed to fire the abovementioned person and published a short apology for the inappropriate and abusive criticism. Furthermore, there were other consequences of this publication: firstly, the local authorities appointed assessment commissions, which were entitled to check and monitor all newspapers, owned by foreigners or immigrants. Secondly, mass-media taxation was raised by 12 per cent (ibid) and thus caused the complete discontinuation of several district newspapers. Thirdly, in September 200 the ministry announced 10 well-known citizens as non-grate persons (university professors and political activists were among them). Furthermore, in 2000, the only non-government-based newspaper, Al-Ittihad experienced problems, as the commission found out that its journalists had written articles on international affairs and transnational businesses without the related official's approval and thus banned the staff from communicating foreign diplomats without bureaucratic endorsement. In the same year (ibid) Dubai emirate established a press club directed to providing foreign representatives (diplomats and entrepreneurs) with concise and objective information. "The country's three English-language newspapers are privately owned, as are three out of its six Arabic-language newspapers; however, privately owned newspapers receive government subsidies. Foreign publications routinely are subjected to censorship before distribution" (ibid). As the journalists confess to Human Rights Watch (ibid), there is an unwritten ban on the criticism of governmental policies, and even the aforementioned 'Dubai Enquirer', satirical political newspaper, is subordinated to those who foster it nad raise its funds. The main challenges I encountered when writing the paper was the lack of direct evidence and small number of books, devoted to the UAE media. Publications found are one-sided and not actually impartial, so it was important to find some other sources, like reports, designed by international organizations. In my opinion, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor reflects properly the problems of information vacuum and numerous restrictions, put upon the local media. Another challenge was the lack of knowledge (as the majority of authors demonstrate) about the factual media owners, i.e. the officials are in reality unable to trace all financial channels and connections in this complicated information world. To sum up, Arabian media hasn't yet eliminated the hard-line Muslim atavisms and still view government as the main source of information. Works cited 1)BBC News. Country Profile: United Arab Emirates. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/country_profiles/737620.stm , July, 28, 2006. 2)Bureu of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. United Arab Emirates: Country Report on Human Rights Practices. Available at: http://72.14.221.104/searchq=cache:a4HAy2qCUAQJ:www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/nea/824.htm+United+Arab+Emirates+media+%22government+control%22&hl=ru&gl=ua&ct=clnk&cd=2, February, 23, 2001 3)Dubai Studio City to Boost Film and Broadcast Industry. The Khalej Times, 21 February 2005. Available at: www.khalejtimes.com. 4)Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance. Submission to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Proposed Free Trade Agreement Between Australia and the United Arab Emirateshttp://www.alliance.org.au/index.phpoption=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=177 , 2005 5)Schechter, D. Media scandals Across the Arab Western Divide. Spinwatch, 6 December 2005. Available at: http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/2196/9/ Read More