The extensive air-time given over to conservative clerics by Saudi state media is hampering the government's reformist message, Saudi journalists said yesterday. Religious scholars in Saudi Arabia have wide access to the media where they back conservative policies on gender segregation that have become the subject of fierce debate. "Right now we are very much influenced by the dominant religious discourse," said Abdul Aziz Al Eid, a presenter on state television's Channel One suggesting the powerful religious establishment was blocking reforms. "The state is strong and has the ability to halt any discourse when things have got to the point of influencing the power and prestige of the political decision-makers," he told a seminar here.Columnist Samar Mugrin said Islamists were out of step with the state's political message, which has promoted reform since King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz ascended the throne last year. Journalist Nabila Mahjoub told the gathering at the United Nations offices in Riyadh: "We need to confront the religious discourse .... When an expert in Islamic law or a cleric appears on television, he is giving his opinion, and there is no one to answer him or correct his mistakes."
Mistakes? He's an expert, man! BTW, subtly implying the Kingy Thingy is on your side, against the clerics, is asking to be disappeared... The Sudairi