ID :
45813
Mon, 02/16/2009 - 13:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/45813
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JA-UAE hails the stance of political leadership and government for enabling media to play its role
Abu Dhabi, February 16, 2009 (WAM) - The Journalists Association- UAE (JA) hailed yesterday the efforts of the country for promoting all the various sectors of the national work, as well as the stances adopted by the political leadership and the government for enabling the media to play its role in a perfect manner.
At the same time, the Association expressed astonishment about some individual behaviour that harmed the clear and open stance of the Association towards the new draft media law. In a statement the Association said that the intervention by certain parties, who are not at all related to journalistic circles, is only a waste of time and effort and a reason for causing divisions in the unified stand, ultimately making negative influences on the demands of the Association which represents journalism and the journalists in the country.
In the statement issued by the Board of Directors of the Association on the 'circumstances that followed the Federal National Council's approval of the media activities draft law presented by the government', the JA expressed utmost astonishment about the stance taken by some individuals who signed a petition in the name of 'civil society associations' and addressed it to President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan asking him to stop the draft bill and form a committee from among them to examine the law.
The statement said: " All the signatories of the petition do not legally represent any civil societies, and a few of them participated in planning and preparing it through individual meetings with a number of persons, collected 109 names claiming that they signed the content of the said petition. They used the method of misguidance to achieve their goal refraining from sending the text of the petition and contacting the majority of the persons over telephone informing them that several public welfare associations have approved the petition including members of the Journalists Association. These members did not exceed ten, and most of them are inactive members who did not participate in any activity of JA since the last five years. Some of them informed us later that they were made to believe that the petition was prepared in support of the stance of the Association, which also ratified it and signed it".
The statement added: " In view of all these circumstances, we decided to issue a public announcement across this statement to explain our stance towards those people who adopted the case of movement in a fashion that is far from the natural course that we used to adopt in our demands since 2004 asserting the need for amending the existing journalism law, at the top of which is the printing and publishing law No. 15 (Year 1980).
Since March 2005 we have been working to redraft the law as per the request by the government. The concerned committees in the Association held meetings for this purpose and presented the vision of the media circle formally to the National Media Council by the end of 2006. This was called "Recommendations for the Media Law '.
We have continuously campaigned for speeding up the process of enacting the law, but none of those who signed the petition made an opinion or wrote an article about the previous law, and the existing one. None of them took time to contact the FNC members before January 20, when a session was held to discuss the law. None of them attended that session to back the Journalists Association's call for postponing the deliberations on the law for a country-wide discussion on the law.
Such negative attitudes show that the aim of the group, who initiated their move in the wrong time, was to search for a role and to adopt positions that serve the personal agenda of those who stood behind the petition, leading to a state of chaos that impacted the explicit view of the Association's members and the leading journalists, expressed during the meeting in Abu Dhabi on January 26. That also led to a delay in conveying that view to the relevant authorities, which in turn led them to get a blurry picture of the whole situation.
Praising the steps taken by the country's leadership and the government to enable national media to play its role, the Journalists Association would like to stress the need to revise and amend the following: Firstly: An accurate description of journalism in the definition, including its roles, duties and obligations.
Secondly: Bluntly stating that no journalist shall be imprisoned in cases related to their performance of their duties Thirdly: Revoking all articles that stipulate temporary ban on newspapers or withdrawal of their licenses Fourthly: Emphasising the journalist's right to get the information Fifthly: Deleting all ambiguous phrases and words that bear different meanings and may lead to contradicted interpretations.
The Journalists Association urged the concerned authorities to seriously consider journalists demands, in line with the provisions of the law and the constitution, and within the framework of the processes for approving draft laws in the UAE.
The Association expressed the confidence that such proposals will be considered, given the keenness to achieve the national interests, and in a way that will help enhance the professions of media and journalism.
At the same time, the Association expressed astonishment about some individual behaviour that harmed the clear and open stance of the Association towards the new draft media law. In a statement the Association said that the intervention by certain parties, who are not at all related to journalistic circles, is only a waste of time and effort and a reason for causing divisions in the unified stand, ultimately making negative influences on the demands of the Association which represents journalism and the journalists in the country.
In the statement issued by the Board of Directors of the Association on the 'circumstances that followed the Federal National Council's approval of the media activities draft law presented by the government', the JA expressed utmost astonishment about the stance taken by some individuals who signed a petition in the name of 'civil society associations' and addressed it to President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan asking him to stop the draft bill and form a committee from among them to examine the law.
The statement said: " All the signatories of the petition do not legally represent any civil societies, and a few of them participated in planning and preparing it through individual meetings with a number of persons, collected 109 names claiming that they signed the content of the said petition. They used the method of misguidance to achieve their goal refraining from sending the text of the petition and contacting the majority of the persons over telephone informing them that several public welfare associations have approved the petition including members of the Journalists Association. These members did not exceed ten, and most of them are inactive members who did not participate in any activity of JA since the last five years. Some of them informed us later that they were made to believe that the petition was prepared in support of the stance of the Association, which also ratified it and signed it".
The statement added: " In view of all these circumstances, we decided to issue a public announcement across this statement to explain our stance towards those people who adopted the case of movement in a fashion that is far from the natural course that we used to adopt in our demands since 2004 asserting the need for amending the existing journalism law, at the top of which is the printing and publishing law No. 15 (Year 1980).
Since March 2005 we have been working to redraft the law as per the request by the government. The concerned committees in the Association held meetings for this purpose and presented the vision of the media circle formally to the National Media Council by the end of 2006. This was called "Recommendations for the Media Law '.
We have continuously campaigned for speeding up the process of enacting the law, but none of those who signed the petition made an opinion or wrote an article about the previous law, and the existing one. None of them took time to contact the FNC members before January 20, when a session was held to discuss the law. None of them attended that session to back the Journalists Association's call for postponing the deliberations on the law for a country-wide discussion on the law.
Such negative attitudes show that the aim of the group, who initiated their move in the wrong time, was to search for a role and to adopt positions that serve the personal agenda of those who stood behind the petition, leading to a state of chaos that impacted the explicit view of the Association's members and the leading journalists, expressed during the meeting in Abu Dhabi on January 26. That also led to a delay in conveying that view to the relevant authorities, which in turn led them to get a blurry picture of the whole situation.
Praising the steps taken by the country's leadership and the government to enable national media to play its role, the Journalists Association would like to stress the need to revise and amend the following: Firstly: An accurate description of journalism in the definition, including its roles, duties and obligations.
Secondly: Bluntly stating that no journalist shall be imprisoned in cases related to their performance of their duties Thirdly: Revoking all articles that stipulate temporary ban on newspapers or withdrawal of their licenses Fourthly: Emphasising the journalist's right to get the information Fifthly: Deleting all ambiguous phrases and words that bear different meanings and may lead to contradicted interpretations.
The Journalists Association urged the concerned authorities to seriously consider journalists demands, in line with the provisions of the law and the constitution, and within the framework of the processes for approving draft laws in the UAE.
The Association expressed the confidence that such proposals will be considered, given the keenness to achieve the national interests, and in a way that will help enhance the professions of media and journalism.
