 ABU DHABI — General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, here yesterday called for freedom of speech and reforms in Arab world's media in tune with global changes and the fast rhythm of the information age. Delivering the keynote address at a conference on 'Arab media in the information age', organised by the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), Gen. Shaikh Mohammed urged media organisations to play an active role in catalysing the reform process and called on Arab leaders to promote the freedom of speech and to protect the intellectuals, accept other opinions and support creativity and new ideas. "The media, like any other activity, needs reform and change. At the same time, media is a key player in the issue of reform and change. In the particular case, we have two points — one is critical and the other is a hot spot. The critical point is that reform advocates have to make additional efforts to justify asking for them, as opposed to reforms being dictated or pressurised by foreign influence, which can be rejected by the masses, whatever its objectives were. "The second point, he said, originates from the ambiguous relationship between reform and national identity, especially Arabism and Islam."
| All the holy men over there know that answer to that one. |
Stressing the important role played by the media in shaping the future of any nation, Gen. Shaikh Mohammed said the media, in general, had become an integral part of our age and the core of economic, political and social life, both locally and internationally. "The media should not be overburdened, as it has become an integral part of our community's driving forces."
| "So boys, don't work so hard. Let my agency just write your stories for you." |
He cautioned that the slow response of the Arab media in dealing with their own issues in a responsible manner will open the way for others to deal with these issues — but from their foreign perspective and interests. He said the Arab media was under the control of some dictatorial governments hindering them from addressing the challenges of reliability and competence, which they have faced during the past years. He urged the media to focus on dealing with issues of women, children and education. He said that though the Arab media had played a major role, their pioneering role was broken when the Arab world suffered from despotic regimes, which discovered the power of the media and controlled it and changed its real objective. "These regimes have changed the objectives of media from serving the homeland to serving them, and from clarifying the wrongdoings to justifying them, and from a platform of dialogue between different powers of society to a weapon to defame opponents and other opinions," he pointed out.
| That is what dictators do, and you're a crown prince, remember? |
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