RIYADH: The Saudi Journalists Association (SJA) is to write a letter to the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Communication and Information Technology Commission calling for a new set of rules regulating the issuing of website and online newspaper licenses.
The SJA will also demand that site owners be questioned should they publish content that creates social harm and negative images. In a periodic council meeting, the SJA discussed the story of 13 women Saudi journalists who have lodged complaints against a Saudi online newspaper.
“This recent issue opens the door for e-crimes to be brought to light,” said Turki Al-Sudairy, chairman of SJA. He added that electronic newspapers should be legally treated the same way that print newspapers are.
The 13 journalists claim that Kul Al-Watan, an online newspaper previously known as Hedayah Net, published a story saying that Saudi women journalists resort to drugs, prostitution, alcohol and unlawful relations to reach high positions in their profession.
The complaints were sent to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Human Rights Commission and the SJA.
Sahar Al-Bandar, one of the 13 journalists, said this is the first step of its kind against such published matter. She added that this is the best way to stop offensive reports, which are not based on facts, from being published. “We are not an angelic society, but generalizations are not acceptable,” she said.
Hedayah Al-Darwesh, chief editor of Kul Al-Watan, strongly denied publishing the story, insisting that “if one followed the link to my online newspaper, one could see that there is no notion of women journalists in it at all.”
She also said that there is only one site that has published the article and attributed it to Kul Al-Watan, and that she does not know who is behind that site.
Al-Darwesh insisted that many other websites published the story without referring to Kul Al-Watan, as she did not publish the article. “First, I am a woman and a journalist, and publishing such a story would jeopardize my image before anyone else’s, as well as my position and history of long-term achievements in this field,” she said.
The 13 journalists, meanwhile, allege the newspaper deleted the contentious portion but kept other sections that discussed issues, such as prostitution.
Al-Darwesh, however, refuted the accusation, adding that the original story was not altered. “We did not change the report originally posted online. Its current content is the same as what was published initially. Nobody made any changes,” she said.
The 13 journalists and Al-Darwesh are currently waiting for a final decision on the issue from the authorities.
