Bahrain urges fair reporting from foreign media

Our Correspondent / 27 January 2014

Bahrain has urged fair reporting of its news in various media for the sake of the truth.

Information Affairs Authority (IAA) Media Attache Salman Al Jalahma urged members of the foreign media to live up to their self-proclaimed commitment of unbiased coverage out of respect for viewers, listeners and readers they say they are serving.

“The IAA strongly believes in an open and transparent world of communication that serves all the people and answers all the questions, beyond narrow agenda-driven motives,” Al Jalahma said.

The media attache was commenting on the “continuous endorsement by some media organisations of erroneous facts published by some Bahrain opposition societies.”

Referring to a report ‘Bahrain arrests 183 protesters, including 31 children in one month — opposition’ published by Russia Today on January 17, Al Jalahma said that “it is important to clarify that the author(s) took the report, compiled by Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, at its face value, without verifying the data or attempting to challenge them by seeking an official statement from the Government of Bahrain.”

“Professional standards require a solid knowledge of the true situation in Bahrain in order to produce articles that present a plurality of view and that are completely impartial and independent from ideologies and political and other influences,” he said.

“In October 2013, when Al Wefaq claimed in a similar report that 406 cases of mistreatment had been committed by security personnel, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) at the Public Prosecution summoned Sayed Al Musawi from Al Wefaq to present the alleged cases and review them with the SIU, However, he failed to provide any information,” Al Jalahma said.

shamada@khaleejtimes.com

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