Reporters Sans Frontières de l'Arabie, Keeping One’s Head…………..
“Saudi Arabia invites Reporters without Borders to visit kingdom before writing damning reports. Saudi Arabia, stubbornly relegated by "Reporters without Borders (RSF)" at the bottom of the list of the world ranking of press freedom, now accuses the Paris-based NGO, to be "unreliable and unfair" to the kingdom which boasts of having "widened the margin of freedom" enjoyed by journalists. There is nothing new in the Saudi complaint. The new thing is that Riyadh invites RSF to come and see things on the ground before writing its reports. In its barometer of press freedom in 2009, RSF ranked Saudi Arabia the 163rd (out of 175 countries), well behind Iraq, often singled out for the 'killing field' of journalists. It even came after Libya, which "holds the dubious record for the longest incarceration in the world for a journalist". According to RSF, the Saudis are now accused of having even a "slight decline" from 2008 (161st place)……………”
Reporters Sans Frontières has not been reading the robust opposition media of the country, free to express its opinion and criticize princes and potentates at will. FRS does not need to travel to the country to read the opposition media, they are all in exile: in Paris, London, Stockholm, Berlin, USA…... the best way to keep one’s head in their business.
But I must add that this applies to almost all other Middle Eastern countries, with one, or perhaps one and a half, exceptions.
Cheers
mhg
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