Delegates to the Arab Media Transmission Forum in Abu Dhabi have criticised the Arab League’s new transmission charter, which calls for tough new measures to licence all TV channels and curb broadcasting excesses. 

Rapid TV News reports that under the new charter broadcasters could lose their licences should they be found responsible for criticising religious or political leaders.

The Arab League’s secretary general Amro Moosa, in his pre-recorded speech, asked the 300 delegates to discuss the Charter’s proposals, saying it was the right of every Arab citizen to live in an era of openness. This somewhat contradictory statement certainly generated plenty of debate, with a wall of negative comment: “a device to shut the Arab mouth” said one delegate, and “censorial”, “harshly restrictive” and a “sword hanging over Arab TV” argued others.

Kuwait's former Minister of Information Sa'd Bin-Tafla al-Ajami called for freedom for the Arab media regardless of any considerations. The Arab media must be free from all fetters whatever the justifications might be, he asserted.

Egypt, which proposed the Charter, is on record as saying the plan was not to restrict freedom but to organise media and curb some channels which were “spreading ignorant messages and illegitimate religious edicts,” as reported by local press.

Work on the Charter started last June and was enthusiastically endorsed by the Arab world’s broadcasting and information ministers early in February.

Read more.