Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com
Posted in:
Editorials
Written By: Staff Editor
Article Date: Nov 13, 2007 - 3:49:29 AM
The faculty of media at Sana’a University recently launched a new postgraduate journalism program, which is exciting and worthy of praise, but will more trained journalists improve the media in Yemen, or will the school just be producing more people for the government to prosecute and censor?
It is true that Yemen has a relatively free press. But “relatively” is the key word—a qualifier that obliterates the absolute value of whatever quality that follows it in a sentence. And freedom is a quality that should never follow the word “relatively” in a democratic country.
Democracy is a system that promises representation. It is a system that requires informed participation. And it is a system that encourages open expression. There is no separation between democratic governance and press freedom. One depends on the other.
It appears, though, that press freedom is an expendable luxury during times of national crisis in Yemen.
Billboards around the country declare, “Security is the dream of homeland” (sic). Yemen, like many developing countries, is striving to become a land of unity, safety and prosperity. But in trying to harness the power of a unified, safe and prosperous Yemen we run the risk of becoming slaves to our fears of violence, poverty, fragmentation, and helplessness—all causes and results of general insecurity in a country.
The political fragmentation of our country is an increasingly visible reality and a growing concern of the government. The conflict in Sa’ada, and more so, the increasing tension between the former North and South highlight Yemen’s delicate unity.
But rather than addressing those internal conflicts through open and free discussion, and rather than allowing the public the right to develop well-informed opinions, the government answers those national crises with media blackouts, the censorship of websites, and the imprisonment and harassment of journalists.
Former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Freedom of conscience, of education, of speech, of assembly are among the very fundamentals of democracy and all of them would be nullified should freedom of the press ever be successfully challenged.”
Every day that a journalist spends in prison, every newspaper that is shut down, every news website that is blocked, every attack on journalists, and every government-cloned opposition newspaper is a successful challenge to freedom of the press and to the freedom and security of all Yemenis.