Found on the Middle East Media Research Institute are excerpts from a journalist for the Saudi paper Al-Watan that says the job of a Middle Eastern journalist is too easy; follow the party line and if you're short on material, just criticize the West:

"Arab writers and columnists have a tendency to affirm populist notions, whether they're good, bad, factual or false. They write what people want to hear. They write not to educate or challenge the readers' notions, but rather to affirm the readers' pre-conceived opinions and views. These types of character-driven, pandering scribes care only about elevating themselves and winning the sympathy of their fans. 

"For a writer, is there anything easier than serving up paragraphs of emotion-driven rhetoric? Is there anything easier than repeating platitudes and re-hashing clichéd ideas?

"If a columnist runs out of ideas, there's always one ace in the deck, one thing that is bound to get a cheer from the choir. It's almost too easy. Out of ideas for the day? Simply write an article cursing the United States of America! That's an easy way to earn a day's pay...

"Unfortunately, writers who do not fall into the trap of cheap shots and one-trick ponies, writers who practice disciplined criticisms about topics closer to home, end up being drowned out.

"The problem here is a lack of understanding about the process of criticism. Our society is one that lacks dialogue and rejects the mere concept of criticism. There is a severe lack of understanding behind criticism as an application. In our society, criticism is a synonym for defamation.

"As a result, many columnists resort to criticism as a form of attack, against each other, against the West, against America. It is rare when we find a thoughtful attempt at understanding others and their views that come, just as ours do, from their cultural, political and social backgrounds."

The Washington Post published an article by a former columnist for the Saudi Arab News who was recently fired for criticizing the Muslim world:

"I was unceremoniously fired this month by my Saudi newspaper, a leading English-language daily called Arab News.

"It didn't matter that I had been the senior columnist on the op-ed page for nine years or that my work was quoted widely in the European and American media, including this paper. What mattered was that I had committed one of the three cardinal sins an Arab journalist must avoid when working for the Arab press: I criticized the government.

"The other two? Bringing up Islam as an issue and criticizing, by name, political leaders in the Arab or Islamic world for their brazen excesses, dismal failures and blatant abuses."

Sources: Middle East Media Research Institute, The Washington Post