US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT3860

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 003860 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI (DBERNS) 
NEA/PPD (CWHITTLESEY) 
NEA/PA (FFINVER) 
ECA/P/V (CBROWN) 
ECA/P/V/F (LWEBER) 
ECA/P/C (LPEREZ) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, KPAO, KMDR, PHUM, KU, Press Freedom 
SUBJECT: NEWS AGENCY HEAD QUESTIONS INFORMATION MINISTER'S 
PLAN, SAYS GOVERNMENT NOT READY FOR PRESS CRITICISM 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 3704 
     B. KUWAIT 3057 
     C. KUWAIT 1493 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
 1. (C) Summary: In an amiable, wide-ranging meeting between 
Ambassador and Mohammed Al-Ajeeri, the Director General of 
the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), on August 26, the Director 
General discussed his thoughts on the Minister of 
Information's plan for restructuring the ministry, the status 
of a draft press and publications law, and the prospect of 
exchanges between American journalism organizations and 
schools and KUNA staff. Al-Ajeeri suggested that there would 
be a tug-of-war between himself and the minister over KUNA's 
fate in the proposed restructuring, and said that the fate of 
the draft law was uncertain because senior government 
officials would insist, against the wishes of 
parliamentarians, on mandating jail time for press law 
violations. End Summary. 
 
"He Wants to Touch My Agency" 
----------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Al-Ajeeri visibly recoiled when Ambassador brought up 
the plan by Minister of Information Dr. Anas Al-Reshaid to 
restructure the ministry, of which KUNA is a part (ref. A and 
B). "He wants to touch my agency," Al-Ajeeri said 
distastefully. Al-Ajeeri stated that the plan was hastily 
prepared, because the minister, he speculated, was in a hurry 
to make an impact. Al-Ajeeri added that there were elements 
of the ministry that needed support, such as the television 
arm, and approved the concept of improving these, but said 
that the minister should not interfere in the workings of 
KUNA. The problem with the ministry, according to Al-Ajeeri, 
was that there were no provisions for firing bad workers, 
which had the dual result of institutionalizing 
unsatisfactory performers and sapping motivation from those 
willing to work hard. Al-Ajeeri pointed out that while KUNA, 
like the ministry at large, was unable to fire 
underperformers, the agency avoided a wider malaise with a 
system of merit-based promotions to maintain motivation and 
reward top performers. 
 
Not Ready for Real Criticism 
---------------------------- 
 
3. (C) Asked by the Ambassador about the prospects for 
passage of a new press and publications law in Kuwait's 
upcoming legislative session, Al-Ajeeri expressed his 
misgivings. At issue, he stated, was a disagreement over 
appropriate punishment for violations of the law, such as 
libel. The government, Al-Ajeeri indicated, was insisting on 
jail time for violations, while parliamentarians are "against 
any punishment that results in prison." Because of this 
disagreement, Al-Ajeeri asserted, there would be no new press 
law for now. 
 
4. (C) The larger problem, he said, was that high-ranking 
officials are not ready to be criticized in a serious way. He 
argued that officials were "not fit for real democracy" -- 
real democrats, he noted, not only suffered criticism, but 
encouraged critics. "If you are a public person, I should 
criticize your work," Al-Ajeeri said. 
 
Training and Exchanges 
---------------------- 
 
5. (U) A discussion of professional exchanges and cooperative 
training ventures began and ended the meeting. Al-Ajeeri 
asked Ambassador to foster familiarization tours by KUNA 
reporters and administrators to the U.S., where they could 
meet with their counterparts at news agencies, journalism 
schools, and professional organizations to share expertise 
and best practices. Al-Ajeeri characterized these trips as 
"visits," rather than training, to "see what is going on," 
but also said that he would like to send some of his senior 
staffers for advanced training. 
 
6. (U) Al-Ajeeri extolled the virtues of KUNA's own in-house 
training center, the KUNA Center for Training and Development 
of Media Skills, which offers introductory training for new 
employees and regular, five-week intensive training workshops 
in specialized areas. He said that U.S. expert visitors to 
the training center would be welcome, and encouraged 
cooperation on such efforts between the Embassy and the 
center's director, Lamia Al-Humaidhi, whom he called into the 
meeting towards the end, as training and exchanges once again 
came up in the discussion. 
 
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LEBARON