The Qatari Advisory Council has alleged that foreign journalists are being 'brought' into the country to slander its name through negative reports has incited protests of senior journalists. They have also voiced their criticism of the Council's recent debate on 'Irresponsible Journalism'. This is the latest in a series of incidences which suggest that existing degrees of press freedom in the Middle East are being gradually eroded.

The Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF) was set up in October 2008 by the Qatar Foundation. It is headed by the emir's wife, Shaykha Muzah, in partnership with the Paris- based media freedom watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF). Robert Menard, former head of the RSF, is now the director-general of the DCMF.

The DCMF is at the front of the campaign to liberalise the press constraints in Qatar, which is an ongoing and complex process. Media analysts assert that the press in Qatar is restricted by direct and indirect censorship. Press laws render it a punishable offence to offend the royal family, the army and the Islamic faith. The majority of companies are to some degree linked to these institutions, thus media agencies are forced to self regulate their content.

"It's practically impossible to criticize government policy... The Qatari press law is both obsolete and repressive," Menard reportedly said in the Financial Times on 7 April 2009.

The situation in Doha in recent months with regards to press liberties has been particularly tense, with the DCMF coming under a tirade of accusations from critics wary of its values and actions. Earlier this year, Menard clashed with Qatari officials when the DCMF, which has two safe houses in Doha for threatened journalists, found that visas for some of those seeking shelter had been refused. In March, he wrote an open letter to Shaykha Muzah on the centre's website, telling her that "some people close to you and others you have appointed to senior positions at the centre" were obstructing its activities.

Both sides of the arguments have seeped into Qatari media and the resentment against foreign journalists has become personal. A series of editorials in the Qatar press have been published in recent months, in which they criticise Menard, director-general of the DCMF, for allegedly criticising Muslims. Menard had encountered disputes for, to cite the local daily Al-Watan, crossing the 'red line in media freedom'.

Three days after the debate, the newspaper, Al-Sharq, denounced Menard, for expressing alleged "insults" against Qatar. They reported that whilst Menard on a chat show on France 3 TV on 7 June, he said: "My job is to defend the news media freedom in the Middle East in Qatar, the worstplace in the world." Menard, when contacted by the Editors Weblo, denied having made this statement.

The Emir, Shaykh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, had abolished press censorship in 1995. However, it is the complexity of the de facto regulations and their vocalisation in some Qatari publications, which is jeopardising the work of the DCMF. The organisation has said it: "I fail to understand - or I understand only too well - why our democracies continue to support corrupt and repressive regimes in the Arab world. Why don't we defend Arab democrats as we once defended dissidents in the Soviet Union? The answer is unfortunately only too clear - oil, gas and arms".

Source: BBC Monitoring Online