A recent CNN documentary about Saudi Arabia has provoked considerable comment. From what I have seen and heard from my colleagues and others who saw the program, however, I believe the documentary projected — overall — a negative image of the country.
I saw the documentary twice and both times, I felt there was much more that should have been said. It focused on several topics such as terrorism, young people’s problems, women’s issues, and there were the usual interviews with certain princes and officials. The program was a tribute to BBC cameraman, Simon Cumbers, who was shot dead by Al-Qaeda in Riyadh some months ago.
Since 9/11, Saudi Arabia has been flooded with reporters from America and Europe, each one eager to write his or her analysis of the Kingdom. Some reporters have given a balanced perspective while others, sadly, seem to have come with their minds made up — and could have saved themselves the trouble of coming since for the most part, they had already decided what they would say. When they were here, they were only interested in getting quotes from hard-liners concerning jihad or terrorism. Many went about the country asking questions about how Saudis viewed Bin Laden and whether they supported him and his ideology.
The truth of the matter is that most of their reports were written based on a visit to Saudi Arabia of a week or less. The articles or films consisted of a few interviews with English-speaking officials about reforms, some young people speaking through translators and an interview or two with Saudi women about the struggle of women seeking greater recognition and freedom. Wrap that all up with a little info on terrorist incidents and you have a story on the Internet read by millions. And Saudi Arabia was judged — and is judged — from such reports.
What is strange is that I have never seen in any documentary or in any report interviews with foreigners — Westerners or Asians — who have lived here for decades and who consider Saudi Arabia as a second home. Many of these people’s children were born here and they are all emotionally attached to the Kingdom. In some cases, their attachment to the Kingdom is greater than their attachment to their home countries which they may visit only once a year or less. Their comments and observations are never sought and never reported. Seldom indeed will you find a reporter who even wants to hear what these people have to say and include that in their report. That is if they ever looked for these people to begin with. I would be the last person to say that we Saudis do not have problems. We have plenty of them — but so does the rest of the world as well. Most of the stories I have read concentrate on four topics: Reform, women, voting, and terrorism. Important as these are, they cannot themselves in isolation give an accurate picture of the Kingdom.
The fact is that we have developed from a desert to what we are today in about 50 years and the rapid changes as a result is completely left out of most reports. Another point that is often omitted from foreign reports is the effort by the Saudi government to develop a modern state. Most of the development we see today in Saudi Arabia took other countries several hundred years to achieve. We have done most of it in only 30 years. At the same time, the government is pushing ahead with reforms but not at such a speed as to cause severe social ruptures and upheavals.
The reality is that many of the Saudis who are interviewed for these reports are not representative of the normal Saudi man or woman. Even though many of us want greater women’s participation in the public and private sectors and many writers in both English and Arabic newspapers say that there is much injustice toward women due to various customs and traditions, there remains a majority that is content with the status quo.
One recent story given wide coverage in the Western media concerns women not being allowed to vote or stand as candidates in the upcoming elections. With respect to my female colleagues and all Saudi women, I believe that our society is not yet ready for women voting or standing as candidates. One difficulty would be having separate places where women only could cast their votes and thus, according to some, the sinful mixing of sexes would not occur.
In other words, instead of 140 centers in Riyadh and the region, we would need 280. We would also need to employ women to answer questions from women members of the public. It also means municipalities would have to find women who would be willing to work in remote areas. And in turn, that would mean drivers were needed to take the women there and if they remained in the remote area, they would also need a male escort. The difficulties go on. These are only a few of the points Western reporters fail to understand when they report that women will not participate in the elections.
As a society and a people, we are moving ahead. We are dealing with such problems as unemployment, women’s rights and economic reforms. We are, however, doing it at our own pace and in our own way. Our small steps may appear too small to many reporters and journalists but to us, they are significant moves forward. These things are relative and should be put in the proper context by reporters writing about the Kingdom and its people.
