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The Walls Are Closing in on Free Media in the Arab World

By Bill Law • Nov 08, 2018
Jamal Khashoggi murder news, free media in the Gulf, free media in the Middle East, Al Jazeera news, media freedom in the Middle East, media freedom in the Gulf, media freedom in the Arab world, Jamal Khashoggi media freedom, Mohammed bin Salman news

Jamal Khashoggi, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 01/13/2016 © HansMusa / Shutterstock

We are at a very low point for journalism in the Gulf and the wider Middle East.

My thoughts are with Hatice Cengiz and Jamal Khashoggi’s family at this very painful time.

The job of journalists is to ask questions, to speak truth to power, to question authority. This has always been a very difficult struggle in the Gulf and wider Middle East, but this is what Jamal Khashoggi was committed to. He believed with great courage and passion that the way to achieve a better place for his country and society was to strive for an independent and free media. He was a pragmatist who understood well the limits of just how far he could push that narrative on, but he never, ever gave up pushing.

He was a brave and dedicated journalist and a warm and funny man.

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi does tremendous damage to the struggle to create a free and independent media in the Gulf and Arab worlds. It has already suffered so many grievous setbacks. To name but one, the Bahraini news site Al Wasat, the only truly independent voice in the Gulf, was shuttered by the authorities in the summer of 2017 with scarcely a murmur here in the West.

In 2011, Karim Fakhawi, Al Wasat’s co-founder, was beaten to death in detention by the police when he went to complain about his house being bulldozed. How quickly Karim’s fate was forgotten. In 2017 the UAE sentenced a Jordanian journalist Tayseer Al Najjar to three years in jail and a huge fine for “insulting the symbols of the state.” In January of this year, Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar was sentenced in absentia by a military court for insulting the armed forces. How discouraging is that given the relative level of freedom the media enjoys in Lebanon?

Under the guise of security, open criticism and free media are being inexorably crushed. A friend of mine in the region said it is as if the walls are closing in: “We cannot breathe.” It has become a grim narrative arc, one that began with modest gains and hope for a freer media environment in the early part of this century but — especially after 2011 and the events of what has been called the Arab Spring — spirals downward to the appalling murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

It is telling that a chief demand of the Saudis and the Emiratis when they launched their land, air and sea blockade of Qatar last June, joined by the Egyptians and the Bahrainis, was the shuttering of Al Jazeera. The news network is not without its faults, but thank goodness that Qatar has withstood the siege — even Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, has had to acknowledge that — and Al Jazeera remains safe.

Nonetheless, we are at a very low point for journalism in the Gulf and the wider Middle East. In my nearly 20 years of covering the region, I can think of no time when the struggle for free media has been so grievously wounded and so seriously set back.

The killing of Jamal Khashoggi — especially if the man I and many others believe is responsible for his death, MBS — is allowed to get away with it, as I fear now seems the case, his killing will only empower further atrocities and reprisals. The tame media will reflect the views and attitudes of the ruling families. Those journalists who want to ask questions dare not.

And silence will not be an option. Those who stay silent because they cannot stomach parroting lies will be seen as traitors or, as the president of the United States calls honest journalists, “enemies of the people.” In Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain the media are the slaves of their masters. It is a new form of Stalinism —  Gulf Stalinism — whereby the media become the mouthpiece of the rulers.

For the sake of my murdered colleague, I do not want to end on a note of pessimism, because to do so would be to acknowledge his death was in vain. It was not. What he believed in, what he stood for and wrote about, and what he died for is the way forward. The Gulf and its citizens and those throughout the Middle East will only realize their full potential in a society where a free media flourishes. That is what Jamal passionately believed. And he was right. Jamal is a martyr to that noble cause.

Dictators and their lies do not endure. Speaking truth to power, even with all the terrible consequences it entails for journalists, ultimately brings their lies crashing down around them.

Thank you, Jamal, for your great and courageous journalism, your dedication, your commitment, your humor and your kindness. Know that you will not be forgotten, and that your death is not in vain. In your name the cause of free media in the Gulf and wider Middle East will carry on. Its victory will be your lasting legacy.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy.

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Categories360° Analysis, Arab News, Gulf News, Middle East & North Africa, Middle East News, Politics, World Leaders News, World News TagsAl Jazeera news, free media in the Gulf, free media in the Middle East, Jamal Khashoggi media freedom, Jamal Khashoggi murder news, media freedom in the Arab world, media freedom in the Gulf, media freedom in the Middle East, Mohammed bin Salman news
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READ MORE IN THIS 360° SERIES

Jamal Khashoggi’s Murder Damages Press Freedom
By Atul Singh • Oct 02, 2019
Jamal Khashoggi Continues to Haunt the World’s Conscience
By Gary Grappo • Oct 02, 2019
Are Saudi Arabia and MBS Becoming a Liability for the White House?
By Gary Grappo • Dec 18, 2018
Jamal Khashoggi Shines Light on Arts Sector's Problem with Money
By Vanessa Stevens • Nov 07, 2018
Continuing Jamal Khashoggi’s Fight for Free Expression in the Arab World
By Rasheed Alameer • Oct 26, 2018
Why Erdogan Had to Act on Khashoggi Killing
By Nathaniel Handy • Oct 24, 2018
Can the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi Help Bring an End to the War in Yemen?
By Bill Law • Oct 22, 2018
Jamal Khashoggi: The Martyr Who Made Backlash Possible
By Peter Isackson • Oct 19, 2018
Assassins Without Borders
By John Feffer • Oct 19, 2018
The US Is in Unchartered Territory with Saudi Arabia
By Gary Grappo • Oct 18, 2018
The Death of One Man Is a Tragedy
By Virgil Hawkins • Oct 16, 2018
Is Jamal Khashoggi Really Dead?
By Rasheed Alameer • Oct 10, 2018
The Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi Confirms a Dangerous Trend
By Bill Law • Oct 04, 2018

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