BEIRUT: The Samir Kassir's Eyes (SK Eyes) foundation announced during a lecture series in Beirut on Monday and Tuesday that they will provide legal support to oppressed journalists in the Arab world. In a talk titled "Cultural and Media freedom in the Arab Levantine," held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hamra, organizer Ali Mohammad Atassy announced that SK Eyes would "take risks with" arrested journalists, providing them with legal assistance and awareness campaigns to defend their cause.

SK Eyes is a project of the Samir Kassir Foundation, working in conjunction with media rights groups such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The focus of the project will be Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine.

"We can take advantage of the cultural platform that is Beirut and make it our central office for the Arab World," Atassy said.

"This meeting is really important. It is encouraging and credible, because it is neither close to the government, nor to any political party," Roger Menard of RSF told The Daily Star, adding that his group has recently opened a "reception center" for threatened journalists in Qatar.

The conference included speeches by journalists, bloggers, and artists who have been punished for their political views.

Syrian poet Faraj Baykadar talked about his experience in jail, stating that "freedom is love's brother, jail is hate's brother. In jail, I used to see birds as a mean to enlarge the skies, and I used to think my poems were birds."

"In Syria, there are a lot of art forms, but no choice. One can only create if he's free ... or in jail," he added.

"The Arab world is one of the worst regions in the world concerning the media freedom. Even though journalists, through their writings, try to change that, freedom of speech and human rights are still flouted," said Lebanese actor and producer Roger Assaf.

Human rights activist Jamal Eid explained how the Internet had brought a new era for freedom of speech. Independent blogs could bring new opinions and information to areas with tightly controlled media.

Eid said the number of internet users in the Arab world has increased from 600,000 in 1997 to 38 million in 2008. "The Internet is great because it's the only media the government can't forbid," he said. "It is the media of the minorities."

Some governments, however, are taking steps to reverse this, moving to ban blogging and social networking sites.

Activist Mohammad Ali Abdallah showed the audience caricatures of the Syrian government. His brother, not even the creator the pictures, had been arrested and jailed for five years for uploading them on his blog.

Mohammad Omar, a journalist and blogger from Jordan, was not so optimistic about the Internet. According to him, the freedom and egalitarianism of the world wide web will slowly give way to the segregated censorship of other media forms.

"The problem with the Internet is that it became a way of expressing not only personal opinions but also hate and extremist thoughts. I am not against freedom, but it has been made clear that the internet is too extreme. I mean, people upload beheading videos on YouTube," he said.

Other speakers included Sarr Abu Fakher, Abbas Baydoun, Hakam al-Baba, and Fakhry Saleh, who talked about "The Authorities and the Media" and how to defend media freedom. The discussion about satellite media was led by Atassy, featuring professors from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. The event concluded with a speech by Menard and Christina Stockwood of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.

Local watchdog condemns attacks on media

BEIRUT: The Maharat Foundation's observatory on freedom of opinion and expression in Lebanon said Wednesday that attacks on journalists and media outlets were registered last month during the street clashes between government and opposition supporters that hit several parts of Lebanon.

"Media in Lebanon has become a war media that covers fighting and sniping incidents, while spreading rumors and imprecise information," Maharat said in its monthly assessment of the media landscape.

"What have drawn our attention were attacks on journalists and photographers from different media outlets, who were beaten, intentionally harmed and prevented from doing their job while having their equipment confiscated," it said, adding that information providers also need to be more responsible.

"Journalists are the eye of society," the assessment said, "but it is necessary for media outlets to [verify] any information before transmitting it and keep from disseminating rumors and false news."

It also said that some parties closed certain media outlets "forcefully," including Future Television, Al-Mustaqbal newspaper and Al-Sharq and Sevan radio stations.

"This constitutes a flagrant attack on the freedom of opinion and expression," it added.

Maharat said state bodies should deal with the information sector with "transparency and neutrality."

"The state did nothing to refer perpetrators of attacks on media institutions and journalists to the judiciary," the report said. "This constitutes a threat to the work of journalists and an escape from punishment for those responsible for such attacks."

It also stressed the need for state institutions and civil society bodies to work "immediately" on publicizing a "culture of dialogue and respect of the right of expression" in order to guarantee a "constructive" practice of public freedoms.

Maharat added that the right to hold demonstrations "is guaranteed by law and is one of the main public freedoms enshrined in the Constitution." - The Daily Star