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Abu Dhabi Hosts Media Chiefs Amid Press Law Debate |
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March 10th, 2010 |
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Abu Dhabi, holder of more than 7 percent of the world’s oil, is hosting top media executives this week as it seeks to promote its role as a communications center and ward off criticism over curbs on the press.
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt and Skype Technologies SA Chief Executive Officer Josh Silverman are among those due to attend the Abu Dhabi Media Summit today and tomorrow. It’s a showcase for the special media zone which has lured companies including Cable News Network Inc. to base regional operations in the largest of the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking at a reception in Abu Dhabi late yesterday, Murdoch urged Middle East governments to only intervene with a “light hand,” to encourage media and entertainment businesses to develop and invest in the region.
Abu Dhabi, which is also building branches of Paris’s Sorbonne University and the Louvre and Guggenheim museums, says attracting television, film, publishing and other creative industries can help the emirate’s economy diversify away from oil-dependence. Critics say the U.A.E. should first relax restrictions on the Internet and stop trying to curb press coverage of issues such as the country’s debt problems.
“If you want to have a free media city, you have to have a free media,” said Samer Muscati, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York who described proposed press legislation in the U.A.E. as “draconian.”
A measure approved last year though not yet passed into law would allow fines of up to 500,000 dirhams ($136,000) for any “misleading” article in the local press that harms the country’s reputation or its economy. It would also require journalists to reveal their sources.
Cartoon
In July last year, an Abu Dhabi court upheld a decision to suspend Arabic daily newspaper Emarat Al Youm and fine its editor-in-chief over a story which alleged that a prominent Emirati businessman used doping for his racehorses.
In December, the U.K.-based Sunday Times, owned by Murdoch’s News Corp., was pulled from the shelves in the U.A.E. after a cartoon showed Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum sinking in the Persian Gulf along with the emirate’s iconic Burj al-Arab hotel.
The picture was published less than a week after Dubai World, a state-run holding company, said it would seek a “standstill” agreement on debts. Abu Dhabi loaned Dubai $20 billion last year to help repay creditors.
Abu Dhabi offered tax exemptions and relaxed some of the Internet restrictions it applies elsewhere, including blocking sites such as Flickr and Skype, to attract companies to Two- Four-54, the media “free zone” it opened in 2008. Two-Four-54 helps new ventures by buying a stake.
‘Creative Industry’
“Those investments will range from half a million dollars to $5 million on average,” said Wayne Borg, chief operating officer of Two-Four-54. “These small cottage-based industries are the ones that drive innovation and creativity and most importantly, drive the jobs in this sector.”
Two-Four-54 has formed training and educational partnerships with organizations including Apple Inc. and the British Broadcasting Corp. This week it announced a joint venture with News Corp.’s Fox International Channels in multimedia and documentary production.
A unit of Mubadala Development Co., Abu Dhabi’s investment arm, has also bought a 10 percent stake in Zuffa LLC, owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting. The group has also hosted a range of live concerts in the emirate featuring acts such as Beyonce and Aerosmith
Middle Eastern media companies can attract more advertising as the region’s economies grow, closing the gap with the developed world, said Karim Sabbagh, a partner at the Booz & Co. consultancy in Dubai. He said the region spends about $1 a year per capita on advertising, compared with $40 in developed countries.
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Source: www.businessweek.com |
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