Category Media

Poor Journalism Says Hi

I’ve been following the local mainstream media closely for the last three years. One of the things that I observed is that some of the English-language press here do a better job when it comes to reporting important and controversial local stories. Part of this has to do with the fact that they are in English so they are not under the radar of the censorship, but more importantly because their editors are usually committed to higher standards than their peers in the Arabic ones.

arab_news_logoHowever, every once in awhile the very same publications come up with gems like this which make me reconsider that observation. Other than some unknown market analysts, the reporter relied completely for his story on one source only: the owner of a company that runs a few of these amusement parks and who apparently looks forward to open more of them. And why not? I mean he, after all, was the one who said his “centers were located in attractive places, close to beaches and residential areas” as well as being “equipped with advanced educational and entertainment facilities.”

This piece of lousy reporting, and believe me I’m being way too nice to describe it as reporting when it sounds like a paid for commercial more than anything else, makes me lose my hope in the future of the fourth estate in this country. When I spent two weeks in the States last September I decided to take a break from the Saudi MSM while I was there and guess what? I didn’t miss it that much.

Jeddah: Gurlz vs. Guyz

jeddah_boysI have said it before and I shall say it again and again: those Jeddawis never fail to impress me. Their latest is a 12-minute documentary featuring young men and women who talk about their views about the opposite sex and dating.

As I have said in a recent post, dating is a risky business in Saudi Arabia, and to have a documentary discussing it this way is truly amazing. The short film is produced by Izzaty Islamy, a two-year-old girl’s social club that sponsors monthly discussions and has conducted debate events at Dar Al-Hekma College and the International Medical Center. I can’t wait to get my hands on the film and watch it; and since it’s only 12-minute long the group might consider uploading it to YouTube or something like that.

Block, Block, Block

After we got rid of the notorious ISU for good, it seem that now it’s the turn of CITC to prove that idiotic internet censorship is still well and alive in Saudi Arabia. After blocking liberal forums and some small blogs, they have decided to go big this time and block the Guardian Blogs. Probably this has something to do with Al Yamamah scandal, but the BAE investigation file pages where you can find out about the deal are still available. It’s not that they usually have a good reason to block websites in the first place, anyway.

Al Hameds on Trial

My brothers and I went this morning to the court here in Ahssa to finish some regular paper work. It was past 9 AM when we arrived to the court building. We entered the main hall to find a lot of people waiting while the court employees were chitchatting in different corners of their offices. None of the judges has arrived yet, we were told. The employees were sitting doing nothing because they could not turn on their computers. They told us if they turned on their computers the electricity in the building would blackout. (!) We were told to get back on Saturday, not even Wednesday! Some people blamed Amr Al Faisal when he ripped into the Jeddah court. Take that!

So, in what is expected to be yet another mockery in the Saudi legal system, Abdullah Al Hamed and his brother Isa were told to appear in a criminal court in Buraida next Saturday over their involvement in the women’s demonstration that was held in July. “The charge is that they incited the women to stage a sit-in, and tried to break through a security cordon,” Khalid Al Omair, a fellow activist, told AFP. These charges sound dubious, but with a legal system like ours anything can happen.

The only good thing about this rather disturbing piece of news is that the trial would be open to public. It will be a chance for those supporting the reforms to make a statement by showing up at the court on Saturday morning, and hopefully a big crowd would draw the attention of public and media.

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On Linky Love

Reading this piece from the NY Times about the Larry Craig case, I thought it was worth pointing to this quote by famous blogger Jeff Jarvis: ”A link is not necessarily an endorsement, but a way to say ‘you go judge for yourself.’ ”

link_meBecause blogging is still not well understood in this part of the world, there are some things that people don’t realize about this medium. Many people think that when I link to something it necessarily means that I agree with it. This is not true. In most cases, when I link to something I usually mean: “hey, check this out.” Another thing is that most bloggers here don’t know how to use linking properly to provide a better reading experience.

Old timers on this blog probably remember when I used to link to dozen of stuff everyday with short or no commentary at all. I stopped doing that, but I still provide a lot of links everyday to content that I think worth checkin out in right sidebar under the title Arabic Picks. I chose to make it all in Arabic because I don’t write in Arabic anymore and I thought this could be like an alternative to writing (I admit it’s not, but hey, at least I’m trying :-). I’d love to hear what you have to say about this, so kick things off in the comments.

On Health Care Saudization

arab_news_article

Today’s Arab News is running an editorial by yours truly. The editorial is based on a post I’ve written on Saturday commenting on a headline the paper carried in which an “expert” claimed that the country is in need for 100,000 Saudis to work as pharmacists in the government and the private sector. The expert went as far as saying “Those who pass the degree will instantly be employed.”

But as anybody here can tell you, statements of experts are one thing, and reality on the ground is usually quite another. As a matter of fact, many pharmacy graduates like my own brother are unemployed because they could not find any proper jobs for their qualifications. I hope this piece would draw the attention of officials in the Government and Shoura Council to this situation.

Many thanks to my friends at Arab News for giving me the chance to write about this important issue, and I’m looking forward to contribute more to the newspaper in the future.

Activists Release New Statement

A group of political and human rights activists in Saudi Arabia have sent an open letter to the head of Human Rights Commission (HRC), the government body concerned with human rights, asking the commission to act according to its responsibilities regarding the reformists who were detained last February.

The letter, which was also sent to the head of Shoura Council, the minister of justice and the head of NSHR, asked HRC to handle the case of the detainees and ensure to grant them their lawful rights which were violated upon their detention. It also pointed out to the arrests of other activists known for their social status and contributions who also underwent the same violations.

“These actions by some bodies violate basic human rights, and do not go well with the reforming steps led by King Abdullah,” the letter read, but it does not go as far as naming these bodies. It does not, however, take much thinking to realize that the letter talks about the Ministry of Interior, which said the arrest were related to allegation of financing terrorism.

The letter was signed by 76 activists, including many well-known reform figures such as Ali al-Domaini, Matruk al-Faleh and Khalid al-Umair. The list of signatories also included many Shiite activists such as Najib al-Khonaizi, Mohammed al-Ali and Jaafar al-Shayeb.

However, as Abu-Joori pointed out, the list reveals the absence of any prominent religious leaders. “It indicates the ignorance in which the leaders of Sahwa and Islamists in Saudi Arabia are plagued with when it comes to human rights issues.” On the other hand, many of the so-called liberals are absent from this list, he added.

I believe all the demands in the letter are fair and the detainees should be granted their rights according to the law immediately. But it is anyone’s guess if the receivers of this letter would actually respond to it. Let’s wait and see, but my advice is not to get your hopes too hight. I, for one, again, is not holding my breath.