media law

COM 441 502Media Law

Spring 2011

Free Speech and Media Censorship in Dubai

Nouf Farid2008 23714

Nouf Farid 2008 23714COM 441 502 – Final Paper

Free speech and censorship is a topic that is rarely discussed among the

people of the United Arab Emirates, and specifically in Dubai. Since Dubai is a

cosmopolitan and multicultural country it is very difficult to determine what is

censored within the media due to the different religions and cultures that

conflict each other. It has started to become an issue. The main question asked

when mentioning the words censorship, “freedom of speech” and religion is:

Do the boundaries set by the cultural tolerance of the Emirati locals play

a role in increasing media censorship in Dubai?

First of all, what is “freedom of speech”? Does this phrase have the same

definition in every country, or in every religion or culture? The main definition

of this phrase is “the right of people to express their opinions publicly without

governmental interference, subject to the laws against libel, incitement to

violence or rebellion, etc.” (Dictionary.com, 2011)

For the past years, Dubai has become a magnet for attracting

immigrants from around the world into the city. Immigrants carry different

backgrounds, cultures and religions. Dubai is known for its local culture and

traditions but a majority of its culture is its religion; Islam. Having these

combinations of cultures and religions has caused the media to experience

difficult situations in determining what should be censored and what

shouldn’t. It was mentioned in a BBC article that in the United Arab Emirates;

specifically Dubai focus on censoring pornography and the negative analysis of

Gulf governments in the media due to the religions norms. (Wheeler. 2006)

Media law has set a big role in determining what to be published and

not. “The UAE constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, in

practice these rights are very limited.” (Gulf news, 2006) Information that is

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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_speech

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/the

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/express


found to be negative “about Islam, the government, ruling families, or UAE

citizens (by expatriates) are punishable by imprisonment.” (Gulf news, 2006)

Officials from the Federal National Council are responsible for

establishing the various media censorship laws. In addition government

officials in Dubai are responsible in frequently revising censorship laws with

the new changes and development in the media world. Finally the National

Media Council, who have the right to censor text found within newspapers and

spoken texts. “Publications must be licensed and follow official guidelines on

reporting. Foreign publications are censored before distribution. Journalists

tend to practice self-censorship.” (News BBC, 2011)

When discussing media censorship and freedom of speech, there are

many people affected by this. First journalists, those write for various local

media have faced issues of censorship and self-censorship in Dubai. Journalists

use self-censorship to be careful not to discuss any taboo topics or

controversies and threaten their careers as there are state officials who

monitor the information broadcasted in the media (Ward,2010). Nevertheless,

journalists have to learn to work within the limits and find other ways to

discuss sensitive topics to the public. Second radio hosts also risk their future

careers, as they are constantly being monitored by government officials on the

topics being discussed on radio.

This means that nothing can be circulated without adhering to the

boundaries set by the government. Anything that is considered harmful,

offensive, or even threatening to the country is strictly censored. The UAE is an

example of a government-protected press in specific the city of Dubai. The

media laws created in this area use a combination of media freedom and

responsibility (Ward. 2010).

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Media broadcasted in the UAE is censored based on a law established by

the Federal National Council. As the Human Right Watch (2009) stated, media

in Dubai has restrictions on speech and contents, which is controlled by the

government. Media law, which is also the same law applied to all the Emirates

regarding limitations and control on licensing, registration, management and

procedure of the media in the UAE, has recently been reviewed and updated

by the UAE's legislature, the Federal National Council. Whitson, S, the Middle

East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, discussed his thoughts

on the new law by saying “The law will muzzle the press, preventing honest

reporting about the country's continuing financial crisis or about its rulers.”

(2009).

The National Media Council (NMC) is another organization that was

formed to take the place of the federal ministry for information and culture,

which was disbanded in 2006. This Media Council has the rights to censor

texts found within newspapers and spoken texts (Davidson, 2008). In some

cases, the NMC censor texts because of the wording of the title or a book that

associated Dubai with controversial subject (Davidson, 2008). The UAE

government also has the right and capacity to “eavesdrop electronically” to

make sure no laws are being broken. (Walters, Quinn, & Jendli, 2006)

Etisalat, an Internet provider and gatekeeper in the UAE, is responsible

for determining which websites need to be censored or blocked in the country

(Wheeler. 2006). Websites that “question discuss or oppose the ruling families

of the Gulf States and their absolute power is anachronistic.” (Wheeler, 2006).

As stated in a BBC article, www.uaeprison.com and www.arabtimes.com are

examples of websites that are published in the United States and are found

blocked in the UAE “due to its content being inconsistent with the religious,

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cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.” (Wheeler,

2006).

In 2007, The Dubai government came across two Pakistani satellite

news channels; Geo News and ARY One World, which was lead by General

Pervaz Musharraf, had to shutdown their channels which were linked from

Dubai Media City and marketed by Tecom due to news on current affairs and

political analysis, which was forbidden to be aired in the UAE. (Gulf news,

2007)

The issue of freedom of speech in the UAE has lead to Media activists

standing up to propose for adjustments and modifications to the UAE’s press

law. This law includes the fundamental rights to freedom of speech in the UAE

and the various reporting restrictions, which are used. Mohammad Yousuf,

head of the UAE Journalists Association, said, “the main points of the proposed

law were that freedom of speech should be the basis, and restrictions curtailed

to a few exceptional cases.” (Gulf news, 2006)

This new idea of censorship in the media and freedom of speech has not

been fully undertaken yet, and has yet to focus on spreading its awareness

around UAE. Since Dubai is a fast paced cosmopolitan city, the mixture of

cultures and traditions has caused the media to censor a lot of its content in

order to protect the integrity of its citizens and expiates that visit.

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BIBLIOGRAPHYBBC. (2011). United Arab Emirates country profile. Retrieved from:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/737620.stm

Gulf news. (2006). Journalists seek freedom of speech as basis for press law. Retrieved from: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/media/journalists-seek-freedom-of-speech-as-basis-for-press-law-1.222433

Gulf news. (2007). Pakistani TV channels may move out of Dubai Media City. Retrieved from: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/media/pakistani-tv-channels-may-move-out-of-dubai-media-city-1.213645

Human Rights Watch Organization.(2009). Just the Good News, Please. Retrieved October 23,2010 from http://www.hrw.org/node/82150

Human Rights Watch Organization.(2009). UAE: Media Law Undermines Free Expression. Retrieved October 23, 2010, from http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/13/uae-media-law-undermines-free-expression

Quinn, S., Walters, T., & Whiteoak, J. (2004). A Tale of Three (Media) Cities. Global Media Journal, 11-13. Retrieved from: http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/OldSiteBackup/SubmittedDocuments/archivedpapers/fall2004/refereed/quinn.htm

Ward, S. (2010). Navigating Media Ethics and Censorship in Dubai. Retrieved October 23, 2010, from http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/04/navigating-media-ethics-and-censorship-in-dubai097.html

Watson, I. (2008). Dubai’s Media Censors Tackle News, Sex and Politics. Retrieved October 23, 2010, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18292869

Wheeler, J. (2006). Web censorship: Correspondent reports. Retrieved October 22, 2010, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5024874.stm

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