Comments for Matt J. Duffy :: Thoughts on Journalism, Culture, and Life in Abu Dhabi

Comment on Journalism, media laws and press freedom in the UAE by Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:57:16 +0000

Just to be clear, what exactly is your definition of democracy? Serving the western interests in the region, because if you don’t, then you’re against democracy and a bad journalist! So what exactly are you doing in the UAE? isn’t it better for everyone if you’d go back to your own coutry?

Comment on On the effects of state-led media in the UAE by Jim Buie

Jim Buie — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:20:31 +0000

Thanks for this thoughtful post. I wish there were more civic education in the West as well, given that young people in the US today also seem less able “to distinguish between media and advertising, between propaganda and reporting, between public relations and journalism, between opinion and news, or between news and analysis” than they once could. I have to wonder if the role of new media — getting most of their information online — has a negative effect on making such distinctions. All over the world we need to teach and emphasize critical thinking skills when encountering information.

Comment on Four compromises required for Mideast peace by Editor, APoJi

Editor, APoJi — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:14:04 +0000

A Peace of Jerusalem: Changes to this unique, grassroots peace doc continue… Comment openly (or in confidence) at link provided.

Comment on Press freedom rankings decline in UAE by Ayesha Ali

Ayesha Ali — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:55:29 +0000

what i think is that our government give the press their freedom to write what they want to write but they don’t should to be beyond the red line which is not talk about the government (our shaikhs) and not talk about the Islam. The UAE now is better than in the past with a lot of freedom. and what happen to Mansoor is that he talk about the government in bad way, so they send him to jail. however, an example of freedom when shaikh Mohamed bin Rashid not allow journalist to go to jail when they do their job.

Comment on Regarding freedom of expression by zahra Aydarous

zahra Aydarous — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:43:42 +0000

I agree with what you said, but we can’t express whatever we feel because it’s not safe doing that. Some people may understand it wrong and sometimes it could lead to problems. Whenever we want to say our opinion we must first think about what can happen because of it.

Comment on Cherish value of public dialogue by Manal Al Qubaisi

Manal Al Qubaisi — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 03:12:35 +0000

The UAE definitely has a lot to improve in terms of giving people the right to say what is on their mind, but I think technology, namely social networks, is one reason why this task may seem hard. I remember you once mentioned that in order for a country to be successful and achieving, this country must allow its people to speak their minds without fearing the consequences. The freedom of speech is a power in itself where even the smallest, most insignificant individual can have a voice that can impact change. To be able to reflect honestly and speak freely in ones own country is a privilege not to be underestimated or taken for granted.

Whatever form that communication takes can have an implication. In the 21st century it is no longer necessary to be in the same physical space to have dialogue, constructive or otherwise. When face to face and speaking freely there is always the possibility of discussion becoming heated if participants disagree. This has the potential of leading to people reacting rather than responding. Emotions can cloud our thoughts and lead to outbursts that are regrettable. However, using social networks as a “soap box” where you can freely speak your mind or respond to someone else’s post would hopefully mean that the response would take more time and be more considered. A person could write and rewrite until the appropriate tone of the writing was achieved before posting. The key is being brave enough to own your own statements instead of hiding behind false names or anonymity.

Comment on Social media changes UAE landscape by Mariam

Mariam — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:59:33 +0000

The idea of press freedom is interesting and may be the media in UAE will take a new destination. However, before anything the idea itself need to be well explained, and by that I mean that we have to ask ourselves why we need it and how it will serve our country, and the people.
What I have seen until know who ever got their chance to speak they actually attacked people, for instance, the people who talked about UAE rulers in a bad way and said that they do not care about their people. What was that for, did they have anything from it, did they have their satisfaction? The problem is that we have people who want press freedom, but we do not have people that will do it in a productive way, that will affect the country and make it better.

Comment on So what makes Tumblr so great? by Salama Al Neaimi

Salama Al Neaimi — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:19:48 +0000

I agree, tumblr is a great website than can be used for several purposes and journalism is one of them. The only thing about tumblr is that most people use it for fun and for re-blogging pictures and videos. There aren’t journalism blogs on tumblr as much as the ones that are created for people’s leisure time.

Comment on Bribing journalists in the UAE by Sara Al Nakhlawi

Sara Al Nakhlawi — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:11:49 +0000

Sadly true about our arab community where bribary takes place not only in journalism but in other areas too. However, isn’t this happening all over the world? How many times have we heard stories of journalists silenced by money or types of bribes? At the end of the day, bribery is bribery, and every journalist must follow the ethics of journalism to protect the journallism industry. Hopefully the government would take care of this issue and keep freedom of expression safe from others influence.

Comment on On the effects of state-led media in the UAE by Fatima Mubarak

Fatima Mubarak — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:29:09 +0000

This is right as I believe we UAE nationality are not there yet regarding the full media understanding and this may increase with the new media emerging media of Black-Berry cell phones and the social media as they increase rumors and unverified news, but I hope one day we will be there to differentiate between all things we had been mixing or confusing and with learning you can see some actually started to be aware and start to differentiate plus sometimes they also look for the source of the information to verify and confirm news.

Thank you for posting this as it shows your concern of where is UAE citizens understanding regarding their media.