Interview with Jan Keulen, Director of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom By Mark Anderson The Doha

Centre for Media Freedom seems to inhabit a paradoxical universe. The Centre was founded by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, in 2007 as a part of his Vision 2030 program, a comprehensive multi-billion dollar plan to turn Qatar into a knowledgebased society. The mission statement reads: The DCMF is a non-profit organization working for press freedom and quality journalism in Qatar, the Middle East and the world. The statement continues to explain how the center focuses its activities on three domains: direct assistance to journalists; education and training; and research. Under the auspices of research, DCMF organizes debates, seminars, symposiums and conferences, and commissions studies about press freedom, media legislation, access to information and the implications of technological changes, new media and social media. DCMF is overseen by the Emirs cousin, Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer al Thani, who is also the chairman of Al Jazeera. An inevitable tension is bound to arise within an organization that has a mission to promote freedom of speech that is based within a benevolent but absolute monarchy. This tension caused the original director, Robert Menard, co-founder and former SecretaryGeneral of Reporters San Frontires, to leave DCMF in 2009, after accusing the Qatari government of obstructing his work. Two years ago, Jan Keulen assumed the role of General Director of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom. He was formerly Program Manager at the Dutch NGO Free Voice. He has worked for 20 years as a correspondent for Dutch media, including 12 years in the Middle East. During the Lebanese civil war, he was based in Beirut. He has taught journalism at the University of Groningen and founded Investing in the Future a program for journalists and media lawyers in Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, and Yemen. In 2010, he created and implemented Article 19 a media rights course for journalists in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. I sat down with Mr. Keulen, to speak with him about DCMFs goals, and the state of the free press in Qatar.

What is the role of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom? We are a press freedom organization so we are supportive of media freedom in Qatarbut not only in Qatar. Our mandate concerns the whole world, but we are focusing very much on this region. The Doha Centre is also about good journalism because we think the two issues are very much linked. We are engaged in journalistic training.

Could you say more about the media literacy program you discussed recently in the Gulf Times? It is separate from our journalism training program. Media freedom is not just an issue of politicians, its not just a legal issue, and its not just a question of the journalists. It is an important issue for the entire public. In order to create a culture of media freedom, the people, the media consumers, should be aware of how journalism is working: what press freedom means. People are online all the time in the Gulf. We have one of the highest rates of online usage so we think it is very important for the younger generation to be media literate. In the industrialized world, these concepts are integrated in the school curriculum. Here in Qatar, that is not the case. Now we are advocating to have media literacy integrated into the Qatari school curriculum. This advocacy is one of the things we are doing, but we are also advocating by doing. We are implementing workshops and media literacy activities in a large number of schools in Qatar. Students produce their own school newspapers, videos, and websites. Our media literacy program is very much learning by doing. When I taught journalism at the University of Malawi, much of my work was explaining the role of the free press, the fourth estate. My students spoke out about how the government had clamped down on the media in the past, creating a climate of self-censorship. I fear that this got some of my students in trouble, as the government put spies into my own and other classes. The spying issue eventually closed the university, and sparked riots in concert with those of the Arab Uprising. Well, I hope it doesnt ever come to that here. Well this leads in to my next question: There has been criticism of the local media for their failure to cover of issues like workers rights or the Villaggio Mall fire, where 19 people died last year. What do you feel is lacking in the media in Qatar? There are many areas in which the Qatari media is lacking. There is a lack of investigative reporting. There is also a lack of different journalistic genres. You hardly ever see a good interview or an exciting feature story. This can be summed up as an overall lack of journalistic development. In a way, this is not surprising. The first newspaper in Qatar was established in the 70s - the same for the first radio station. So you have a very young media landscape. On the other hand, its a very weird media landscape because obviously this country became famous through Al Jazeera. We have one of the most influential and famous media companies in the world based here in Qatar, a company thats a world apart with its own norms and its own rules.

Internally, the local media are staying behind. There are different reasons for this. One of the reasons is the lack of a proper legal framework for the media. Qatar is developing in so many ways, in education, in sport, you see new high rises every day - but media is a strategic sector and there are very few Qataris working in this sector. They are giving this strategic sector away to expats. I believe this would be an issue for any country. But I do understand why there is a certain reluctance and a certain restraint in opening up. Overall, I think most people agree that local media are choosing to stay behind and could be doing a much better job. Richard Roth of Northwestern University in Qatar wrote an editorial in the International Herald Tribune about the need for a modern press law in Qatar. He points out that defamation here is a criminal issue, where in most democratic societies the legal system regards defamation as a civil issue. Do you this this should be changed? Yes. I agree with Richard Roth. Do you think this will happen? One of the conditions to improve local media is to change the law. We need to have a proper media law and to remove certain things from the penal code which are impeding the development of a free press. If honour is more important than truth, then obviously that is an obstacle to good journalism. Having said that, I think the legal issue is not the only solution. Its also a social and cultural issue, hence the importance of media literacy to understand what journalism actually does. Those issues are linked with issues of democracy, but I dont think, even if you removed criminal defamation from the penal code, that it would fix everything. It would obviously be an important step, but it is not the whole solution. Is some of the self-censorship we see in the Qatari media cultural, in that one may not feel comfortable, in cultural terms, about saying something bad about somebody else. Yes. Certainly part of it is cultural and part of it is fear. If you dont know the boundaries and you can be actually expelled the next day and you are from Bangladesh, or India, or Sudan, or Britain, obviously you are cautious. That leads to self-censorship. But there is also in this culture an element of protecting ones honour and not talking about certain issues, not criticizing those who are above you. So it is a mix of issues and its a mix that is not unique to Qatar. What about you? Do you have to be cautious? (Laughs) (Long pause) I think to be credible as a media freedom organization, we have to speak out from time to time. It is very easy to speak out about issues outside of Qatar, but nobody is going to believe us if we keep our mouths shut when it regards Qatari issues.

So thats why Im speaking out to you about issues of local media. And thats why we spoke out in the past few days about the proposed cybercrime law. That doesnt mean that we are not cautious from time to time. We have to be credible, but we also have to be effective. In order to be effective, sometimes its better not to speak, to keep back for a while or to use other channels to address the issue. In that sense, yes, I do have to be cautious. Its a balancing act. Im not an activist, Im not a revolutionary. At the Doha Centre we honestly and genuinely want to contribute to improve the Qatari media. It reminds me of Bill Clintons character in the film Primary Colours where Clintons character explains to an earnest staffer that if he tried to do everything he thought should be done, he would accomplish nothing. So, in those terms, it is better to work within a flawed system and do a small thing rather than to righteously do nothing at all. Yes. Right. Can you comment on the new cybercrime law? First of all, we havent seen the lawwe only have what Qatar News Agency is telling us so I havent even read the whole text of this draft law. Here again, I have to be a little bit cautious (laughs), but what I read I did not like. It seems to me the law is putting all kinds of different issues in one bag. Yes, of course, cybercrime has to be fought and thats a real issue. We are in a country with a fantastic broadband system and everything is online. We know there is cybercrime, bank fraud etcetera. Even at the Doha Centre we are often working with politically- sensitive issues, like the uprising in Syria or supporting journalists in trouble. So we have to protect ourselves as well. It is a real issue. But when it comes to freedom of expression on the Internet and new stipulations regarding the security of the state and social values, we become a bit afraid. It is all put very vaguely; this draft raises a number of questions. The big questions are why now and why combine these issues with cybercrime? The most contentious parts of the new draft law dont seem to have much to do with cybercrime. Yes. Part of the draft law reads, The law also punishes anyone who infringes on the social principles or values or otherwise publishes news, photos, audio or visual recordings related to the sanctity of the private and familial life of persons, even if they were true, or infringes on others by libel or slander via the Internet or other information technology. That little phrase in the draft law even if they were true is very frightening. This is killing investigative journalism on the

Internet - it makes it potentially impossible. It depends of course on how the government would apply such a law. Potentially, it could be very dangerous. It could also be very damaging for the reputation and image of Qatar. Of course, this draft law comes in the context of countries in the region, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, who are trying to control the Internet in very radical ways. We dont want Qatar to go the same way. Over the weekend, I saw a great deal of activity on the Internet: on blogs, forums, and tweets. Many people actually agree with us at the Doha Centre on this issue. And they are as scared as we are. What should a new press law look like? The new law should facilitate two things: it should give guarantees of media freedom it should create a free environment for journalists to do their work. On the other hand, it should facilitate media development. As I said earlier, from a media development point of view Qatar is a very strange country because you have Al Jazeera and fantastic schools of journalism. It is a very rich country - it has the means, but it doesnt really have the tradition. Maybe it doesnt have the culture yet to develop its local media. If you look at the Qatar Vision 2030, the leaders want to become a knowledge-based society, an information-based society. If we are serious about the Vision 2030, we need a journalistic culture which is up to the international standard. And I do think this is possible. So I think that is what a media law should provide. A media law should not provide a list of prohibitions; it should not provide a regime of very strict licensing for media outlets or for journalists. We dont need a law of fifty pages as this draft law seems to be - it is a very large document. We dont need all that. We need legislation to facilitate journalistic development with an eye on the future. You mentioned Al Jazeera, which is sometimes criticized for being soft on Qatari issues. Do you find this to be the case? Are they free to speak their minds about Qatar? First of all, Al Jazeera is state-owned, which is very important. Its not a private TV channel. Its representing Qatar. Personally, I dont like all this Al Jazeera bashing. I think in general they are doing a great job. There might be some differences in the editorial line between Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic. Al Jazeera Arabic might be more representative of the political line of Qatar. Al Jazeera English actually spoke about a number of contentious issues regarding Qatar. They spoke about the issue of the poet Ibn al-Dheeb (Muhammad Rashid al-Ajami) who criticized the Emir and got a sentence of 15 years.

They have spoken about the rights of immigrant workers. So in general, they are doing a great job. Very often I read and hear criticism regarding Al Jazeera, but when you really look into it, it is not founded. Al Jazeera is very successful, which always makes for a lot of criticism. I also read that Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani (Chairman of both Aljazeera and the Doha Centre for Media Freedom) doesnt interfere with Al Jazeera. Does he interfere with you? Well, Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer is chairman of the board of Al Jazeera so obviously he does have a say. I dont see that as something strange. I guess Murdoch has a say, I mean its not completely the same, but when you have a board of a big media company obviously that person is very influential. I read in the Guardian that your predecessor Robert Menard left because he said he didnt feel he was free to do what he wanted to Yes. Do you feel that pressure yourself? Yes, of course, there is pressure from time to time and Im dealing with it in a completely different way from Robert Menard. I think Robert Menard, when he was asked to be the Director of the Doha Centre, had the wrong idea of what Qatar represents and the wrong idea about working in the Arab world. I dont think he was realistic. We know Qatar is not a democracy; its not Denmark or a country with complete press freedom. Its a country that is very eager to modernize: its a very ambitious country, its a country with a very visionary leadership and in that vision somehow there is this idea of supporting press freedom. They attach great importance to journalismbut its not yet there. My background is different. Ive been working for many years in the Arab world, as a journalist and in media development organizations. I didnt have the expectations that Robert Menard had. Ive been here now for over two years and, yes, there is pressure from time to time. I take it philosophically, because if there was no pressure, I wouldnt be doing my job properly. Obviously, if the government proposes something and the next day in the newspaper they read that the Doha Centre doesnt agree, sure, in any country that would create some tension and some pressure. But in reality, if you look into my heart, I am amazed at the freedom we have here at the Doha Centre. We have 30 people working here on media literacy programs, on advocacy programs, on assistance programs, on training programs: we are doing excellent work and we are recognized as such by organizations like the Committee for the Protection of Journalists and Reporters without Borders and many other organizations around the world.

Actually, I am grateful to the Qataris that they make this centre possible, that they fund itthat they leave us to do our job in freedom. If there are, from time to time, things they dont like they tell us. But we are still here: we are working, nobody has been fired - and if there are some battles, some struggles, I am happy to be part of it. That may be the difference between me and Robert Menard. The other day I saw a documentary on Canal Plus and they were talking about me in France. It was said that they found a director plus consensual, easier to deal with, for the Doha Centre. I think in the long run that is actually not the case. Its about what you are doing, what you are able to implement. So I was offended by that, but I am a very patient person. I am able to listen to arguments. Thats itI take a balanced approach and I am looking at results. I am also very much aware that this is Qatar and Im from Holland this is not my country. So Im not going to act as though I am one of them. Do you see the proposed cybercrime law as a setback? Yes, if they implement such a law it would be a setback. The Internet now, its one of the free areas. You brought up the issue of the Villaggio Fire when the traditional media didnt deliver. There are many criticisms about the lack and depth of coverage of this event. But people were informed through blogs and through the Internet because its a free space. Certain things might be happening in this free space that we dont like, but there are many positive developments as well. So we dont want to see it restricted. On the cover of todays Pennisula (June 2) there is a story which discusses dissent over the proposed cybercrime law. This demonstrates that the traditional media here isnt completely muzzled. They wouldnt have allowed that in Malawi when I was there. No, and in Malawi a Centre for Media Freedom wouldnt be allowed to existit would be impossible. I think the intentions of this government are proper. The leadership is aware: they know that for development and for the modernization of this country, for the realization of their 2030 vision, they need to have a modern press. And there are no journalists in prison in Qatar, in contrast to what is happening in neighboring countries. I do believe in the good intentions of the government, but its a question of implementation. And let me explain something: As far as a free modern press developing here is concerned, you have to put it in context: I was born in 1950. So when I was 22, the first newspaper was founded in this countryand there was censorship. The reporters produced their stories, then the layout was donethen the editor-in-chief delivered it to the Censorship Office at eight oclock in the evening. And the following morning he opened his newspaper to see what was left of it. Thats the tradition we are

talking about, the Censorship Office was only abolished in 1995. Thats the media landscape we are talking about. And journalists were seen as employees, as inexpensive people, who came from India and could write in proper English. No Qatari wants his son to be a journalist strangely enough in the land of Al Jazeera. So at the Doha Centre we are aware that we need to work toward a long vision to change these attitudes. For example, we are taking students to Jordan to report on an event and have them meet prominent journalists. We want to stimulate them, to make journalism more attractive and more important to them, to give the profession the importance it actually should have. There is a whole culture to be developed. It sounds as though the role of the fourth estate is still a foreign concept Yes, thats it. Ive been meeting a lot of Qataris and the question of press freedom in Qatar always comes up. The diplomatic ones say, It could be better. The less diplomatic ones say, Its bad. (laughs). There is an awareness, people know about this, but its more like a fact of life to many. Its changing here, but its at an in-between stage. When the story of the poet Ibn al-Dheeb, broke this was very delicate. When we found out, he had already been in prison for one year. I didnt know about this - no one in our centre knew about this. So first he was sentenced to life, later they brought it down to 15 years. The case is still in court. A few weeks after this news broke, I was invited to an event organized by the Al Jazeera Human Rights and Public Liberties Department. They invited the Doha Centre, they invited UNESCO, the state-run National Human Rights Committee, and the UN Human Rights office. We all came and they gave each group three minutes to make a speech. I gave a speech about freedom of expression being one of the pillars of human rights. If you dont have freedom of expression, you can never tell if the other rights are being respected. And then I started talking about the poet, Ibn al-Dheeb. I didnt go to the content of the issue itself. I said that there was such a case and local media were not reporting. I said that this was unacceptable. I explained that this omission instills a great deal of fear and impedes our work. Afterwards, other journalists came to me and said Well done and Good job! and such. That was a simple thing. We published my speech on our website the same day and the next day all the seven daily newspapers published reports about the meeting. I was quoted, but only the part about human rights and freedom of expression, not the part about the poet. In the end, none of the papers wrote about Ibn al-Dheeb. Was he imprisoned for insulting the Emir in a poem?

Yes, its a complicated story and we were reluctant to publish about it or to be involved in this issue. Apparently he offended the family of the Emir and the Emir himself. He was accused of incitement to overthrow the regime. But the Doha Centre, and myself personally, would have lost all credibility if we didnt talk about this issue. But nothing happened after I talked. If some of the papers had reported on it in a fair and factual way, I dont think anything would have happened to them. There are editors-in-chief who say, Dont touch this or it will create some problems. But we have to do this - we have to speak out. It was safer for me to speak out about the lack of free press in Malawi than it was for Malawians. I think it is probably easier for us as Westerners, because our being jailed would become an international incident. You describe the need for a greater Qatari participation in the local media, but isnt it also more dangerous for them to do so? Yesmaybe. You know its a strange country. The Qatari community do speak out, but they do it on the Internet. There are a lot of personalities here that have blogs under a different name but everybody knows who they are. There is a lot of discussion going on and nothing bad comes of it. This is not a police state there is a difference there with a country like Malawi. Its a very small community of Qataris, only 250,000 people. As small as it is, there are many different opinions. This is a traditional tribal society - part of the leadership is running very quickly in front of the people. Others are going more slowly. I dont find Qataris very fearful, those who have strong opinions, there arent that many, but I know some of them, and they do express themselves. They might lose their jobs, but thats not as dramatic as it would be in some other countries. Even some former editors, they lost their jobs but they are not in prison. And now they are expressing themselves on the Internet. Your interview in the Gulf Times was entitled The Way Forward. Is the free press moving in a positive direction? What is the way forward? The way forward is to have a modern law regulating the media. The fact is that we are waiting: the law has been adopted by the Shura Council, but the law has not come to pass as it has not yet been signed by the Emir. This can be read in different ways: it can be read to mean that there is an awareness in some areas that this is not the press law Qatar has been waiting for. I am advocating a modern press law that is focused on the future. Another step would be to develop a comprehensive plan of how to involve more Qataris in local media: how to make better use of the great educational facilities that are here, such as Northwestern and Qatar University. We need a plan which takes into account the needs of Qatar. They have great plans for education, great plans for constructing museums, great plans for

sports, such as the World Cup in 2022. So why not have a plan for local media? It should take into account all aspects: to be a comprehensive plan. We can help and the other media institutions can help. The plan should take into account Qatari characteristics. This is a Muslim country; it is an Arab country. Theyve come a long way in a short time. They have their views. They have their aspirations. Those issues should be taken into account. This is the way I see it; a short fix is not possible. But dont go backwards. Dont go for the easy way of controlling the media by making restrictive laws.