Participants at an Arab media confab this week ripped through a proposed broadcast charter seen as a precursor to stricter laws and a crackdown on maverick news channels challenging repressive regimes.
"The charter's key aim is to gag the media," said Ahmad El Sheikh, Al Jazeera channel's chief news editor at a two-day forum in Abu Dhabi. "It's really very strange."
Al Jazeera has long alienated Arab regimes with its special brand of provocative news reporting and challenging talk shows. Its motto is "the opinion and opposite opinion."
Al Jazeera Newsroom (Abu-Fadil)
"Why did the information ministers (who endorsed the charter) introduce clauses that could be mistinerpreted?" El Sheikh asked rhetorically of the non-binding 13-page charter entitled "Principles for Organizing Satellite Radio and TV Broadcasting in the Arab Region" that was eleased in Cairo February 12.
The charter is the brainchild of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Only Lebanon and Qatar have expressed reservations about it and Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi was adamant in saying his country would not sign on the dotted line.
Egypt is particularly interested in stifling media critical of octogenarian President Hosni Mubarak - in power since 1981 - and his regime, including his expected successor, son Gamal.
Egyptian legal expert Hassan Gamai argued via satellite hookup that anything original is usually attacked and that all soc ...
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Participants at an Arab media confab this week ripped through a proposed broadcast charter seen as a precursor to stricter laws and a crackdown on maverick news channels challenging repressive regimes.
"The charter's key aim is to gag the media," said Ahmad El Sheikh, Al Jazeera channel's chief news editor at a two-day forum in Abu Dhabi. "It's really very strange."
Al Jazeera has long alienated Arab regimes with its special brand of provocative news reporting and challenging talk shows. Its motto is "the opinion and opposite opinion."
Al Jazeera Newsroom (Abu-Fadil)
"Why did the information ministers (who endorsed the charter) introduce clauses that could be mistinerpreted?" El Sheikh asked rhetorically of the non-binding 13-page charter entitled "Principles for Organizing Satellite Radio and TV Broadcasting in the Arab Region" that was eleased in Cairo February 12.
The charter is the brainchild of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Only Lebanon and Qatar have expressed reservations about it and Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi was adamant in saying his country would not sign on the dotted line.
Egypt is particularly interested in stifling media critical of octogenarian President Hosni Mubarak - in power since 1981 - and his regime, including his expected successor, son Gamal.
Egyptian legal expert Hassan Gamai argued via satellite hookup that anything original is usually attacked and that all soc ...