Freedom of information is a key element of democracy

The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate postponed last week its Fourth Conference until November 22 in order to examine various issues concerning the profession. The Yemeni people, and indeed all people, want a free press that provides information to the public in an independent way and encourages and citizens to question the government and hold it accountable for all its actions.

The most important thing that the YJS should call for in their draft press law is a clause that guarantees freedom to information. They should campaign to remove legal restrictions on the press that hinder its role in communicating news. The Yemen Observer believes that an independent press is an essential precondition for prosperity and that the government should remove its hand from the media if it genuinely aims to fight corruption.

To fight any deviant press that can causes harm to society, the YJS should be the body in charge of monitoring press quality using an established code of conduct which will safeguard news quality and ban journalistic malpractice. The syndicate and indeed all educated people have to create pressure groups to change the entrenched and widespread hostility of the government towards free information.

It is time for policy-makers who talk about democracy to realize that democratic participation is impossible without access to information in the media. Dissemination and discussions about Yemen’s and Yemenis’ problems and grievances is crucial to fostering national dialogue and consciousness about the development of the nation. Concealing truths and playing games with the public is a one-way path to an erosion of national values. 

However, in order for the press to help solve social issues, it first has to solve its own problems. It must train journalists to improve their professional standards, to free them from partisanship that distorts their coverage, to weed out intruders into the profession and above all help to improve links and reactions between journalists and the community about whom they report.  

The credibility crisis in the Yemeni media at the moment is a serious problem. The variety of media voices in Yemen: official, independent and opposition – have only added to the complications. The victim here is the truth. When one watches, listens to and reads news in Yemen, one observes multiple realities delivered by biased perspectives according to the political affiliation of the news provider. This makes the press in Yemen an arena for partisan disputes and accusations that marginalize the social, economic, and political problems that should be examined. We have two basic types of press sources: official ones that uncritically praise the government and all its actions – no matter how misguided. The second is opposition-orientated that only heaps extreme criticisms on any official policies or actions. In both cases, the bare truth is lost.
What is needed is in-depth study for the press in Yemen and to make it play its traditional role of improving and educating society and exposing the failings of authority figures. So government officials, citizens and journalists should join forces to achieve this or the media in this country will become another sort of business.

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