Ariddia
01-05-2007, 18:38
It’s not easy editing a newspaper in Saudi Arabia. You have to watch out for pressure from above - sheikhs and politicians. And you have to watch out for pressure from outside - a public who may not appreciate what you write, and are eager to let you know.
“Pressures come from extremists and people who are against all progress. We receive reactions by fax, by phone, by SMS, by e-mail,” says Othman al-Sinni, an editor at Al Watan, a regional Saudi paper whose bold reporting has helped pave the way for a blossoming of press freedom. “Everything we publish, we think that people will react.”
In the past, stories about the possibility of women driving cars (still taboo in Saudi Arabia), about religious police who blocked the exit during a school fire (in 2002), and Saudi Shiites’ rights in the kingdom elicited a storm of protest from Saudi citizens and conservative imams.
Al-Sinni, who became the paper’s acting editor in chief in 2004, has found that the paper gets fewer angry reactions these days. “I am optimistic because there is gradual progress. This year is better than last year, last year is better than the year before,” he told FRANCE 24 in February.
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Quite an interesting article on the situation of the media in Saudi Arabia, on the progress that's been made and the restrictions that still exist; you can find the full text here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/archives/news/middle-east/20070501-Saudi-Arabia-Press-Freedom).
“Pressures come from extremists and people who are against all progress. We receive reactions by fax, by phone, by SMS, by e-mail,” says Othman al-Sinni, an editor at Al Watan, a regional Saudi paper whose bold reporting has helped pave the way for a blossoming of press freedom. “Everything we publish, we think that people will react.”
In the past, stories about the possibility of women driving cars (still taboo in Saudi Arabia), about religious police who blocked the exit during a school fire (in 2002), and Saudi Shiites’ rights in the kingdom elicited a storm of protest from Saudi citizens and conservative imams.
Al-Sinni, who became the paper’s acting editor in chief in 2004, has found that the paper gets fewer angry reactions these days. “I am optimistic because there is gradual progress. This year is better than last year, last year is better than the year before,” he told FRANCE 24 in February.
...
Quite an interesting article on the situation of the media in Saudi Arabia, on the progress that's been made and the restrictions that still exist; you can find the full text here (http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/archives/news/middle-east/20070501-Saudi-Arabia-Press-Freedom).