There are many bylaws and regulations within the administrative structure of newspapers that could serve as laws to hold the press accountable for any violations. A legal committee in the Ministry of Culture and Information — in collaboration with a judge from the Ministry of Justice — is responsible for ensuring the implementation of the regulations. In addition to these bylaws, there are other regulations that could hold a writer accountable for any violations and the same committee is again the official authority when it comes to implementing the rules.
Throughout my long history of writing, during which I wrote in many local and regional newspapers and magazines, I was never once questioned or held accountable either for my writing or my articles. I’m sure this has nothing to do with favoring me over others. I certainly would not claim that the committee failed to find — in the thousands of articles I wrote — any mistakes or violations. I’m a human being after all and I err. On the other hand, I can’t say that the committee did not do its job. It issued many decisions regarding certain newspapers and reporters.
In return, many of my articles were banned, not in Al-Watan newspaper only but in the majority of newspapers I worked for. It didn’t end just there. Many newspapers stopped publishing my work for unspecified periods of times. When I come to closely examine these two factors, not being scrutinized by the committee and the huge number of my banned articles, I faced a perplexing mystery that needs explanation.
I’m not the only author who is experiencing this weird phenomenon, so how can we understand what is going on? Can we say that the committee never penalized us because people in the newspapers where we worked protected us by simply excluding our articles? No, I don’t think that’s the case. Because if that were true, the people would have protected themselves and their newspapers from penalties and that wasn’t the case. The committee disciplined them to the extent that it became apparent and clear to everyone else.
I reflected deeply upon this matter and I couldn’t find a reasonable explanation for this contradiction. However, there might be a different system that all reporters, writers and columnists aren’t aware of but is known by official bodies in newspapers. That is the only way to explain how a writer’s record is free from any documented violations or warnings when editors deal carefully and cautiously with his work.
Based on that logical possibility which would explain the bizarre situation, on my own behalf and that of other writers I must express my gratitude for those who established that system, those who followed up on it and those who made sure it is implemented in all our newspapers. I would like to thank the Shoura Council for putting in place the rules for newspapers and other media organizations and the people in the Ministry of Culture and Information for following up and carrying out the rules.
But at the same time, I would also like to express that — as a writer speaking in the name of other writers — we all, I’m sure, could take full responsibility for our own actions. We do not agree that our supervisors in newspapers take the blame for us. We can, and must, take responsibility.
Therefore, the committee perhaps needs to review the system of news organizations. A new law should be clear and concise in order to remove the burden from the newspapers’ shoulders and make the writers cautious and responsible for whatever they write. News publications must be given the freedom to choose their employees without exceptions and to refer to judges and courts whenever needed according to a clear system.
Until all of the above becomes reality, I would like to apologize to all newspaper editors and supervisors for whatever headaches we — writers — have caused them and are still causing them.
