JEDDAH, 3 July 2007 — The Ministry of Culture and Information has banned government departments and agencies from publishing advertisements in newspapers in reply to any reports in the local press. The ban is applied on all government departments without exception. Aidha Al-Zahrani, acting assistant deputy minister for internal information at the ministry, said newspapers and journalists would have the right to take legal action against any government department for accusing them of telling lies, by publishing advertisements or any editorial matters.
However, he pointed out such legal actions should be done through the ministry being the authority to take a decision on matters related to newspaper and magazines in the Kingdom. The ministry’s decision came after the Ministry of Social Affairs published an advertisement in a local newspaper in response to a report carried by another paper on finding a body of an old woman in Dammam after the House for Care — a government elderly care facility — refused to accommodate her.
“No government department is allowed to level any accusations against any newspaper or journalist except in accordance with the Press and Publications Law and its executive bylaw,” the ministry said in a statement carried by Al-Eqtisadiah Arabic daily.
In accordance with the law, a committee at the ministry will look into violations committed by Saudi newspapers and magazines, the statement said, adding that higher authorities had given the ministry the power to look into such violations and take appropriate decisions. “The ministry has noticed these excesses and have instructed newspapers not to publish such advertisements in the future,” Al-Zahrani said. “Government departments can reply through editorial material not through paid advertisements. But they don’t have the right to publish advertisements for that matter, even if the report carried by a newspaper or written by a journalist was not correct,” he explained.
The Ministry of Social Affairs published the advertisement to clarify its stand on the issue of the old woman. It said it had set up a technical committee soon after the report and the committee found that the woman was suffering from psychological problem, posed a threat to others and required special treatment that does not come under the ministry’s jurisdiction. “The ministry had expressed its readiness to accept the woman at the House of Care provided she undergoes necessary treatment. However, the woman’s nephew refused to put her in the house and wanted to take care of her after treatment. But the newspaper did not mention this,” an official source at the ministry said.
