RIYADH, 8 January 2004 — Elections to the Saudi Journalists Association’s first board of directors have been postponed to Feb. 26. The elections, the first in 40 years, were originally scheduled for today.
The postponement comes after seven prominent media personalities withdrew their nominations. The sudden withdrawal has put the organization in a quandary. Many members have already said they won’t vote, believing that it would be a fruitless exercise.
Two days ago, the constituent committee published a list of 23 candidates, including nine present and three former editors in chief, saying they were competing for a place on the nine-member board. The withdrawals have reduced that number to 16.
Those who pulled out were: Turki Al-Sudairy, editor in chief of Al-Riyadh, Khaled Al-Malik, editor in chief of Al-Jazirah, Muhammad Al-Waeel, editor in chief of Al-Yaum, Ali Al-Hassoun, acting editor in chief of Al-Bilad, Abdullah Al-Hajlan, editor in chief of Al-Yamamah magazine, Muhammad Abbas, former editor in chief of Al-Jazirah and Dr. Hashim Abdu Hashim, editor in chief of Okaz.
The chief editors withdrew their nominations citing personal reasons. But the withdrawals came after criticisms that their presence on the board would not serve the association’s purpose. Muhammad Sadik Deyab, former editor in chief of Al-Jadeeda magazine, opposed the presence of editors in chief on SJA board, saying their presence would affect the organization’s credibility.
Qenan Al-Ghamdi, former editor in chief of Al-Watan and a candidate, favored the presence of some present editors in chief on the board. However, he said their numbers should not exceed half.
Othman Al-Omair, publisher of Elaf online newspaper, and Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid, former editor in chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, said the editors should not have withdrawn, adding that their presence would have strengthened SJA board.
But Omair, Rashid and Muhammad Al-Tunisi, editor in chief of Elaf, said they did not want the SJA board to be a club of editors in chief. Omair described the election as “the first stage in building a civil society in its totality... I think it is quite an advanced stage for us to have elections,” Al-Watan Arabic daily quoted him as saying.
Jasser Al-Jasser, editor in chief of Al-Jazirah, proposed to postpone the election to allow more qualified individuals to contest the election. “After the withdrawal of several editors in chief from the race, we have to provide chances for other qualified media personalities,” he said.
Khaled Al-Fadli, Jeddah bureau chief of Al-Jazirah, expressed disappointment and dismay at the postponement of elections.
Speaking to Arab News, Al-Fadli said that he thought the election had been postponed because certain names were not there in the panel.
He asked why editors in chief had even considered running for the post. “In principle, none of the editors in chief who nominated themselves has a program for running for office,” he said.
He also said that Saudi Arabia, a country of 22 million, had only 500 full-time journalists. He said this was due to two reasons. “First, journalists in the Kingdom are not well paid. The other reason is the lack of job security.”
