 The
draft of an amended media law would be finalised by January 2009 for
submission to the Cabinet for ratification, said Dr Amal Al Qubaisi,
head of the Federal National Council’s Committee of Education, Youth,
Culture and Media.
The draft law is a revision of the Press and Publications federal law of
1980.
Dr Al Qubaisi declined to disclose details of the amendments being
proposed by the FNC in its current session.
The draft law states that there shall not be prior censorship of any
media outlets in the country. It incorporates the previous directives of
His Highness Shaikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and
Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to prohibit the
imprisonment of journalists, resorting instead to fines when there are
violations of public law. The draft law states that the owners of all
newspapers and their editors-in-chief should be UAE nationals, who do
not have a crime record.
In cases of emergencies (or other instances decided by the cabinet)
newspapers and other media outlets, will be obligated to publish all
information sent to them by government agencies.
All journalists will be invited to attend the FNC’s discussion of the
new draft law in its upcoming term.
Workers in the media see the decision of Shaikh Mohammad to prohibit the
imprisonment of journalists as a step in the right direction for the
future of media in the country.
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VIVA,
one of Madagascar's national television stations, has been ordered by
the Minister of Telecommunications to stop broadcasting: Following
VIVA television station's 8 o clock news broadcast of a recording of a
talk by the former president Didier Ratsiraka, now a refugee in France,
a talk which may disturb public order and security, the television
station is prohibited from broadcasting.
Blogs
should not be censored as long as bloggers are responsible in
their writing, said former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
