In an extraordinary meeting of the Arab media ministers in Cairo on 12 February, in response to a request by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, a charter was enacted to regulate radio and TV satellite broadcasting in the Arab region. In 13 items the charter demanded that Arab satellite channels should work at protecting the supreme interests of Arab countries. Qatar and Lebanon expressed severe reservations concerning the restrictions stipulated by the charter, and declared it an attempt at restricting freedom and imposing a hegemony to ensure circulating a culture of revering rulers.
Banned
Egyptian Media Minister Anas al-Fiqi said Egypt will be the first Arab country to apply the new charter. The charter allows Arab media authorities to revoke the license of any channel which tarnishes the image of a country or its leaders. It declares that it respects freedom of expression but demands that this freedom be exercised so as to protect the interests of the State. The charter allows any Arab country to add more detailed regulations for the work of licensed satellite channels, and calls for respecting the integrity of the State, avoiding defamation of national and religious symbols, and honouring the rights of individual privacy. It bans material which serves to spread hatred or violence, or is discriminatory against religion, gender or colour. Furthermore, the charter forbids slander of the Divine or of heavenly religions, bans the screening of overt sexual scenes or talk shows, and calls for respecting the religious and ethical values of the Arab community. It also stipulates the legal right of persons and entities to reply to, explain, or deny any offence directed at them, even though it did not define any specific mechanism to do so.
Nothing reassuring
Predictably, satellite Channels discussed the matter at length. Sa’a Hurra (Free Hour) on al-Hurra satellite channel which is owned by the US government and broadcast in Arabic, hosted Salah Eissa, editor-in-chief of the State-owned Cairo weekly al-Qahira, one of the most liberal Cairo papers. Eissa wholeheartedly agreed that Arab governments were working to restrict the freedom of the media. The strongest currents in any given Arab government, he remarked, are those that call for thwarting freedom. And it does not help at all, he said, that there are movements in Arab societies that censure ‘entertainment’ channels and embrace strict views of what ought or ought not be broadcast or viewed. Eissa asked media ministers to refrain from pressuring media people because “this charter, together with the laws in Egypt, can lead to the closure of any satellite channel”.
Khairy Ramadan, a journalist and announcer in the independent Dream satellite channel, said the charter will be applied to obstruct freedom. “Nothing on the part of the government is reassuring as far as freedom is concerned,” he added, commenting that the media charter would have been better issued by media people rather than governments.
Red lines
On Egyptian national TV, Mahmoud Saad hosted Fiqi in the popular talk show al-Beit Beitak (Feel at Home). Fiqi said it was the role of the media to present diverse perspectives and to shun mono-dimensional views. But, he said, some satellite channels have become mouthpieces for specific political or ‘moral’ movements, which makes people angry. Fiqi insisted that the regime would never set restrictions on freedoms, but the charter serves as a firm stance against violations committed by some Arab satellite channels. When Saad described the charter as “too general and elastic’’, Fiqi replied that an Arab commission will be formed to regulate its application.
Saad pointed out that there was no need for further restriction of freedom since red lines already existed. To Fiqi’s challenging “Did you ever face official objection to your show?” Saad replied in the affirmative, commenting that any member of the Muslim Brotherhood movement may not be hosted on national TV. “That’s because they are a banned movement, Fiqi said, to which Saad remarked: “How could they be banned when they have 88 seats in Parliament?” but Fiqi reminded that they had run for Parliament as independents. Fiqi stressed that the charter mainly targeted ‘indecent’ shows.
Escape
Hussein Abdel-Ghani, head of the Qatari al-Jazeera channel’s Cairo office, warned that the application of the charter would only lead satellite channels which broadcast on the Egyptian NileSat to look for some other satellite, the only loser being NileSat. An expert in the field estimated expected losses at some LE80 billion once satellite channels quit NileSat. “Satellite channels have gained credibility with the public and they will never give up this credibility nor go back to the ages when mouths were gagged,” Abdel-Ghani said. He described the charter as a threat to freedom of expression.
As for Tareq al-Shami, director of al-Hurra, he warned that media production would move from Cairo to Dubai in case the charter is applied.
This charter has so far stopped two channels from broadcasting, al-Ahmadiya and al-Baraka. Both are extremist Islamic thought channels. But even before the charter was adopted, two channels specialising in superstition, palm reading, and horoscopes, Sharazad and Konouz, had been banned.
Since 1993 the number of Arab satellite channels increased from a mere 13 to more than 400. And last but definitely not least, it must be said that the charter is, at least as yet, not legally binding.