Why now? Thursday, 10 March 2011 04:56

I was not overly surprised by the story based on the draft new press law in our sister newspaper Al Sharq yesterday, coming as it did four days after The Peninsula’s Saturday cover: Why are we so timid? on the state of press freedom in the country.

The selective peek given to a journalist into the draft leads us to two conclusions.

One, this leak to the press is intended to ease the pressure brought on the Ministry of Culture by the calls from various journalists and media people for bringing in the new press law. They probably want to show the world that they are making progress and are on track in formulating the new Press and Publication Law, which has been overdue and several ministers had made of statements about its imminent passing over the last year and a half.

Secondly, the government wants to start a debate among journalists and media people on the provisions of the draft. That in principle is the right thing to do. But that should have happened a long time ago. And media experts and practitioners should have been consulted at every stage of the drafting. The timing, however, gives the impression that the leak was intended just as a delaying tactic.

A careful reading of what appeared of the draft in the Al Sharq story, shows that nothing has been given concrete shape yet — that it is still in Square One. If the draft was passed on to the Cabinet for review or gone to the Advisory Council then one could say there is some progress. I will not go into the nitty gritty, we don’t even know all the provisions in the draft, what, however, makes me concerned is the provision that strong action will be taken when the “security of the country is in danger”. Now this particular phrase is vague and open to many interpretations. It must be defined clearly what constitutes a danger to the security of the country.

Another provision makes the Ministry the guardian of all Qatari journalists. Will that lead us to a free media?

It is about time that the government took serious steps. Debate the draft in right earnest, frame the provision and pass the law. A lot of time has already been lost just in formulating the draft.