Arab Media, Arab Revolutions, censorship, Egypt

Funny RSF Watermelon Press Freedom Report: Saudi Arabia Richer and Freer than Egypt?…………..

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This new report for 2011-12 by Reporters without Borders has some odd results for the Arab States:

1- Finland           45- Comoros           47- United States of America    
78- Kuwait            93- Lebanon          112- United Arab Emirates          114- Qatar    
117- Oman            122- Algeria            128- Jordan            134- Tunisia     
138- Morocco        152- Iraq                       153- Palestinian Territories      154- Libya
158- Saudi Arabia       159- Djibouti         164- Somalia  
166- Egypt         170- Sudan        171- Yemen    
173- Bahrain                176- Syria 

  • Saudi Arabia (158) is rated better than Egypt (166) for press freedom. So is Somalia. Can anyone fucking believe that (other than the Saudi princes)? In Egypt, even with SCAF military council, the media can criticize the politicians and the rulers more freely than most Arab states. In Saudi Arabia, any negative reference to the king and princes can get one fired and land them in prison. I submit that Saudi press (inside Saudi Arabia, not the offshore-based) is the least free in the Middle East, less free than Iran and Bahrain and Syria.
  • Then Jordan and the UAE are rated higher than Iraq: the media can and does criticize al-Maliki openly in Baghdad, but can they criticize the rulers of the UAE or the king of Jordan as freely?
  • The UAE (112) and Jordan (128) are listed as freer than India (131) and Tunisia (134). Now if you so much as look sideways at an al-Nahayan shaikh you’d be charged with terrorism in Abu Dhabi, yet it is rated higher than democratic India!
  • Frankly, no Arab country should be listed as freer than India (with the possible exception of Lebanon and Iraq and Tunisia).
  • I have had issues with the RSF reports in recent years. There is something fishy, they read like the kind of watermelon reports we have in the Gulf region.

Cheers
mhg


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