US embassy cable - 05ABUDHABI158

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000158 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; 
INR/NESA; INR/B; IIP/G/NEA-SA 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE 
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA 
USCINCCENT FOR POLAD 
LONDON PASS TO MOC, ALSO FOR GOLDRICH; PARIS FOR 
ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, KMDR, TC, PREL, PGOV 
 
SUBJECT:  ARAB MEDIA REFORM - "NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO SELL 
ILLUSIONS" 
 
 
1. (U) Summary: On January 9 the Emirates Center for 
Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi opened its three 
day 2005 conference entitled "Arab Media in the Information 
Age."  Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR), Crown 
Prince of Dubai, delivered an emphatic message, as keynote 
speaker, seeking to encourage attendees to serve as the 
driving force for media reform in the Arab world. He said 
that reform must take priority and come from within the Arab 
world, and faulted Arab governments for suppressing dissent. 
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of 
Information and Culture, followed MBR, calling for an end to 
the laws that confine the Arab media and criticizing Arab 
society for its intolerance.  The director-general of Al- 
Jazeera described the channel's new internal code of 
conduct.  End Summary 
 
 
 
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MBR - MEDIA SHOULD PROMOTE THE GULF MESSAGE: ENLIGHTENMENT, 
DEVELOPMENT, MODERATION, MODERNIZATION 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
2. (U) In his opening address, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid 
described the media as an integrated part of society, "If 
society.is a ship, media.is the pilothouse.steering it.in 
calm or rough seas." He criticized totalitarian governments 
that misuse the media for self-serving purposes.  MBR 
indicated that technology had increased people's access to 
information and created an environment in which it would, 
"no longer be possible to sell illusions, to justify failure 
with manufactured excuses or to re-label defeats and 
victories."  To this end, MBR identified the first major 
challenge for the Arab media as establishing credibility and 
authenticity among the people it serves. 
 
3. (U) In describing the challenge of change the Arab world 
currently faces, MBR distilled it down to a disagreement 
between traditionalists and reformers about "basic concepts 
such as development, reform, managing the state and the 
right to express one's interests."  The Arab world, he went 
on to say, is struggling to find an appropriate balance 
between legitimate internal demands for reform and demands 
for reform from the outside world.  Arabs are challenged by 
the need for reform and the effect it will inevitably have 
on their national identity.  The dialogue needed to 
reconcile these conflicts should have emanated from the 
media, but it was suppressed by governments lacking the 
courage to face change.  Arab leaders must actively address 
this issue by supporting intellectual freedom, protect 
intellectuals and accept other opinions. 
 
4. (U) MBR lauded the achievements of the Gulf media in 
securing a more effective presence by reaching out to 
intellectuals, authors and other media professionals 
throughout the Arab World.  As leaders in the Arab media 
establishment, Gulf media professionals possess a special 
responsibility to correct distortions and misperceptions of 
Arabs and Muslims in the wider world by engaging in dialogue 
with intellectuals, politicians, economists, research 
centers and NGOs.  They also should play an active role in 
promoting a "Gulf message", a message that promotes 
enlightenment, encourages development, calls for moderation, 
seeks dialogue and promotes modernization in economic, 
political and administrative realms.  He called on the Arab 
media to take these challenges upon themselves, citing that 
foreign media organizations will always approach the Gulf 
and the Arab world with their own biases and agenda.  He 
concluded by sharing an optimistic view of the future, 
stating that increased transparency, economic growth and 
freedom of expression, all resulting from reform, will lead 
to greater demand for an objective and free media. 
 
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ABZ - ADDRESS THE WORLD IN A LANGUAGE IT UNDERSTANDS 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
5. (U) Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed (ABZ), youngest son of the 
late President Sheikh Zayed and Minister of Information and 
Culture, called for a re-assessment of the legal framework 
within which the Arab media operates.  ".What is required is 
legislation that guarantees free access to information," he 
stated. The first step in comprehensive media reform is the 
"emancipation" of the media from laws confining it.  The 
media should be able to criticize the government and 
question its policies. 
 
6. (U) He indicated a failure of Arab media professionals to 
honestly report on Arab atrocities, "tapes of murder," and 
emphasized this failure by highlighting the independent, 
proactive action taken by Western media organizations to 
report accurately and honestly on the Abu Gharib abuse 
scandal.  ABZ called on the media to establish partnerships 
with the private sector to broadcast programs about the Arab 
world and Islam, "in languages that the world knows, and in 
styles it understands."   The media must transmit accurate 
and balanced perspectives to help enlighten and educate 
global opinion about Islam and Arabs.  ABZ proposed the 
formation of a center to monitor global media about Islam 
and Arabs to ensure accurate and balanced reporting, and to 
correct false information and distorted analyses. 
 
8. (U) It is impossible for Arab media to paint a "beautiful 
picture" of the Arab world when it is such an "ugly 
situation," ABZ asserted.  Media reform must be part of an 
overall reform of Arab institutions and policies.  He stated 
that in all areas of Arab society there is an intolerance 
that rejects outsiders, Muslims and non-Muslim alike, as 
"atheists with whom there should be no exchange of views," 
making it is impossible to positively engage Non-Arab, Non- 
Muslim audiences about ideals, principles and values that 
Arabs and Muslims hold sacred.  He concluded by challenging 
the media to be the means for reform and change, rather than 
suppressing it by distorting the truth. 
 
9. (U) Waddah Khanfar, director-general for Al-Jazeera, 
called on fellow media professionals to avoid compromising 
their journalistic integrity by allowing outside forces to 
influence their reporting.  He described Al-Jazeera's new 
internal code of conduct and asserted that the code enhanced 
Al-Jazeera's credibility.  He emphasized that rules and 
regulations on journalistic ethics should emanate 
internally, and not from government authorities. 
 
SISON