March 30 2004 Seminar Home

Reflections on Media and Human Rights in the Gulf Region : a case study of Oman

By V M Sathish M.A.M.Phil *

 

“Human Rights” is a much used jargon by the Middle East media as every newspaper, TV channel and Internet sites prominently report the rampant human rights violations by Israeli forces against Palestinians. Due to historical reasons and a religious frenzy created by the century old Arab Israeli issue, human rights, read Palestinian rights, captures the headline of the media almost every day. However, on domestic issues including human rights violations and the journalists’ role in society, a number of subtle measures are adopted to keep the media within strict control.

Political power in the Gulf region is based on the outdated monarchical system which is non-existent in major part of the world. Despite showing a façade of gradual democratization process which includes limited freedom of expression and free elections, the media remain strictly under the state control. There are unwritten rules governing media organizations and journalists follow self censorship, which implies that they do not cross the limit. The main theme of my paper is the contradiction between the declared and actual media policy followed in the region, focusing on my five years personal experience as a journalist in the Sultanate of Oman, which is ranked among the top list of countries which curtail press freedom. I am not looking into major issues of media freedom in the region, but focus only on certain human rights issues which affect the Indian expatriate community living in the Gulf region.

Freedom of expression is curtailed by a system which links many vested interests and groups. Oman has officially announced its intention to become a democratic country in the near future with free election to Majlis A Shura through limited franchise. The government has also announced that its new press law will allow more media freedom and journalists are free to write about crucial issues. Oman government invites hundreds of journalists from all over the world, especially the Western countries, to project a positive image about the Sultanate in the international media. Officials brief journalists about various developments in the country and boast about media freedom in the country to create favourable international public opinion. The Ministry of Information spend huge amount of money to lure journalists and get favourable reports in the global media. They are brought in groups, accommodated in five star hotels and given precious gifts to write good things about the Sultanate and its rulers. However the harsh manners in which the government officials and the private sector handle local journalists, especially expatriate journalists, speak volumes about the ground reality.

Oman is a country with high level of official corruption as a number of corrupt ministers and officials have been penalized in recent times. This author joined one of the two English Dailies from Muscat viz. the Oman Daily Observer, as a reporter in August 1998 and left the country in February 2004. The business sector was undergoing a major clean up operation as the government was cracking down on corporate scandals and stock market scams that caused heavy financial loss to ordinary investors. Oman’s former Minister of Development and the stock market head were facing investigation for a Harshad Mehta style crime. The declared policy of the government was to fight corruption and the media was expected to follow suit. Even though the entire country has been infected with corruption and malpractices, such issues never find space in the local media. Corruption, nepotism and crime against ordinary people go unnoticed as the official media policy is to write only positive things about the country and its officials. There are so many malpractices and crimes which are committed by organized criminals and businessmen with the tacit support of the local police and officials. Even though crime against woman, especially expatriate housemaids and unfair labour practices are rampant, the local media often neglect such issues. While international news about human rights violations in Palestine and other Islamic countries are always in the front page of local dailies, crucial local issues are always suppressed by the editors for obvious reasons. This is a general tendency in the GCC media where local coverage of crime and corruption is normally discouraged.

Even though editors often speak about media freedom and the Omani press law which ensures freedom of expression, no journalist is allowed to report crime or scandals. Even though there are only two English newspapers which cater to the English speaking expatriates and Arabs, both the newspapers are controlled by the government through a number of means including official subsidy and censorship rules. While some enthusiastic journalists occasionally bring out sensitive stories, they are often killed by senior editors. Here I would like to give three examples where independent journalists who could not be indifferent to such issues faced harassment from the police, the businessmen lobby with vested interests and the newspaper editors themselves.

In August 2001 two Malayali ladies from Trichur were kidnapped from the Seeb International Airport on their way to an interior place. The ladies were brought to work as housemaids. A gang of Malayali agents was illegally keeping them in brothels for commercial sex. One of the girls was sold to another brothel just for Omani Rial 300 (Rs.35,000)! - a wonderful crime story for any sensible editor who is concerned about such heinous crimes. The Royal Oman Police arrested more than 10 Indians, majority of them Malayalis including 2 women who were involved in kidnapping girls from the airport, Muscat and forcing them to work in brothels. According to Khasab Air Travels officials engaged in the case, the main culprit sold one of the girls to another culprit for RO 300. It was only a tip of the iceberg as woman trafficking is a big racket, which involves influential Indians, Arabs with the tacit support of high ranking officials, businessmen and even the Indian embassy officials. After working in the Indian Express for eight years, this author knew the importance of the story as it sounded similar to the major scoop about buying and selling of tribal girls in India that boosted Indian Express popularity by many fold. For the first time in Oman’s media history the story was published in the Asianet News channel by this reporter and in the Times of Oman by another journalist, Adarsh Madhavan. Along with the story there was a photograph showing the culprits in police custody. The gang involving many members, has duped large number of Malayali girls in this fashion. Buying and selling girls is said to be common practice among such criminals. This is a clear case of human rights violation which the media should investigate and expose in any society that respects woman. However, instead of investigating the story further and nabbing the culprits, the local police was trying to harass the reporter who filed the story. A number of such crimes occur occasionally and the reporter who dares to file such stories end up in trouble. In this case, nobody knows what happened to the abducted girls. Later on the culprits were released without any harm, allowing them to continue their business without any hindrance. Journalists were warned against writing any such stories in the future “without the ROP approval.” One reporter was grilled for hours to extract the source of information and the police insisted that the reporter return the photograph!

In a similar case, a young unmarried Keralite Christian lady from Ernakulam who was brought to work as a housemaid in Muscat was kept in illegal custody by an agent who forced her to engage in prostitution and adultery . As the lady refused to obey, she was locked up in an apartment. Frantic inquiries made by her relatives through a family friend in Salalah (1000 kms away from Muscat, the location of crime) brought the news to this journalist, who made further investigation and reported the story in Asianet Gulf News programme. With the active support of Asianet Gulf Bureau Chief in Dubai Moideen Koya, the story was telecast, forcing the culprits to release the lady after a few weeks. In another case, a housemaid from Kottayam who was detained in an Arab’s house was released after the story was reported. Dr.K.M.Seethi of the School of International Studies who alerted this reporter about the case knows the full story. In all these cases, the reporter took his personal initiative and filed stories in media outside Oman . While the official newspaper (Oman Observer) in which he was working as a reporter will not touch such stories, Times of Oman reporters were afraid of threats and intimidation from the influencial woman traffickers. While handling such stories, this reporter received a couple of messages from various sources including the Indian Embassy in Muscat that reporting the news will be disastrous. “Police officials have extracted all details about you from the immigration computer system. Please don’t telecast the news because you will be deported soon. Such reporting is illegal and against the country’s press law,” warned embassy sources.

Apparently the sex racket which commits such heinous crimes had the tacit support of higher officials. As the local media is not vigilant such crimes continue unabated – the latest report is about 150 Indian girls who were brought to Oman by a high level criminal syndicate with underworld and VIP connections through Ahmedabad Airport . These girls are ostensibly brought as artists to perform in star hotels. However, many of them are facing the worst type of human rights violations and sexual abuse. Since they are brought to work with visit visa, the Arab sponsor who has obtained their visa wants to ensure that they go back after three months or six months when the visa expires. The ROP also wants to ensure that they leave the country after performing for the specified period of time. To be on the safer side and prevent the girls from absconding with male friends, the agents keep them in locked rooms. While they are escorted to and from the hotels, they are virtually imprisoned for three to six months. Paradoxically enough, some of them are normally locked up in a building adjacent to the Indian Embassy in the Ruwi CBD area. Some of the corrupt embassy officials also approach these bars and ladies as a reward for facilitating their visit. In many instances, innocent girls are lured to the racket –something similar to the ice cream parlour sex scandal that happened in Kerala.

As the local media which is part of the establishment will not bother to report such human rights violations, the journalist who reports the issue ends up in trouble. Mostly the local media remain silent spectators even to the worst form of human rights violations. In the above cases even though the journalist brought such stories to the notice of the senior editors and the chief editor himself, the official advice is to keep mum. It appears that everyone in the system seems to be trying to protect someone. However, the editors and information ministry officials will be making bold statements in international media meetings about the need to have a vibrant media to fight corruption and crime. Majority of journalists who are paid very good salary compared to their Indian counterparts remain indifferent to such issues and will be careful to avoid any problems.

Further investigations by this author revealed that on many occasions, the woman traffickers supply these girls to hotels and bars run by influential businessman. Supplying women is a major ingredient in any business deals and projects. Police officials who provide visa and other facilities become first customers and provide necessary support for the criminals. The network includes corrupt bureaucrats, criminal syndicates and businessmen who have their influence both in the Gulf and back home. Journalists who take up such issues are branded as “yellow journalists”. Crime reporting is an area which needs to be seriously improved by the local media and without that they cannot do anything to prevent such rampant human rights abuses.

 

A worst form of human rights violation in the Gulf region is the non payment of wages to workers, the inhuman working conditions and harassment from employers and managers. Thousands of expatriate workers employed in the construction and contracting sector are not getting their payment regularly. Working in inhuman conditions under the torching heat of the Arabian desert , many construction companies treat their workers badly by denying and delaying payment. In many cases expatriate workers who spend huge amounts (upto Rs.1 lakh) to buy an employment visa from visa agents in India find on arrival in the Gulf that they are in a trap. Construction workers, who are accommodated in temporary make shift tents without basic amenities like air conditioner or sanitation facilities are the least paid workers who face the worst form of human rights violations.

They have no access to legal assistance and the Indian embassy officials often side with the local employers. Most labour disputes are referred to the labour and commercial courts which take long time to settle the matter. Even though many workers have been given favourable judgments by the concerned courts, the police authorities are either unwilling or unable to implement those judgments. Normally the erring employers will not attend court proceedings, thereby delaying the final settlement. Oman has announced new labour rules but that too appears to be biased against the employees. Even after the court directs the employer to pay the pending wages, the worker is unable to get justice. Either the influential employer totally neglects the court order or changes company name and address to delay the settlement process. Using what is notoriously known as Vastha, (influence) the powerful businessmen will manage to get away with their crime against workers and keep on recruiting new workers from India. In fact there is a close link between visit visa racket and construction companies. Many companies have a construction license just to get enough number of visas to be sold in the market. Thousands of people are cheated every month and are living as illegal workers.

The official media often maintain a studied silence about such issues because it is feared that publishing such stories creates a negative impression about the country and its businessmen. Another reason for the official silence is that many of the senior bureaucrats make big money through sponsorship and visa sales. They make paper companies and get any number of work permits allotted. While newspapers in the UAE and to some extent in Saudi Arabia repeat such issues, the Oman media always remain silent. The main client of construction companies is the government sector which should be held responsible for delaying payment to workers. Construction companies which delay payment, and thus violate human rights include leading Indian companies, four of which were recently blacklisted by the Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmed. They included prestigious names like Desert Palm company of the Khimji group, Modern Builders run by a retired Indian colonel and two other companies. The Indian media should also highlight such issues so that these companies are not allowed to recruit workers from India .

Even though expatriate journalists highlight such labour problems in one of the English dailies, the newspaper owners often interfere with such stories and harass journalists. Instead of supporting journalists who write such stories, the management including senior editor joins with the concerned parties to victimise the journalist. Newspaper owners who have some sort of business, personal or tribal affiliation to the businessmen stop the journalists from writing such stories. On many occasions, the newspaper owner bluntly tells the reporter that the newspaper is not a labour court to settle labour issues. Paradoxically enough, a group of employees working in the same newspaper’s printing unit were not given salary for several months. They had to approach the Indian embassy with complaints.

Asianet, the leading Malayalam channel that started a special Gulf News Programme, was regularly reporting such labour abuse stories. One such report prepared by this reporter was about the suicide of a worker of Mohammed Ruzaikhi and Partners (MRP), a company that belongs to the Galfar group. MRP is a company directly managed by the brother of Galfar Mohammed Ali, the winner of Pravasi Bharathi Award. The Andhra worker apparently committed suicide because he was not getting payment for several months after reaching the Gulf. According to investigations by this journalist, he came to the Gulf buying a visa paying huge amount to the agent. He borrowed money from moneylenders to buy the visa and promised to return soon after starting work in the Gulf. Since he was not getting wages, the worker was under tremendous psychological pressure and committed suicide. Several workers and housemaids who come in this way are virtually in a debt trap and are vulnerable to exploitation. Some of the company officials run a recruitment company in India and sell visas for high price. Report on this suicide story came in Asianet a few days after the Galfar group MD Galfar Mohammed Ali was honoured by a leading social organization in Muscat for getting a civilian award from Sultan Qaboos of Oman. Anonymous callers threatened this journalist with dire consequences including removal from Asianet reporting job.

Mysterious death of expatriate workers due to harassment and other labour related problems is a regular feature in the construction sector. Recently a Keralite worker of Bugs Trading died while in his room, Fifty years old Rajendran Pillai (from Kottiyam in Kollam Kerala) had a tragic end while sleeping in a make to shift labour camp of Bogest Company in the Ghala Industrial area, Oman. The worker died after serving a company as a mason for nine long years. The man died of unknown reasons, probably a heart attack, while he was in deep sleep with three other workers in a small room. The company has not paid salary for several months. Similarly, a Keralite employee of Stag Enterprises, a cleaning company notorious for inhuman treatment of workers, died in mysterious circumstances. On such occasions the local media remain silent, encouraging the culprits to continue harassing workers. The company is owned by a Palestinian businessman. While the local media highlight human rights abuses against Palestinians in Gaza strip, they pretend not knowing worst human rights abuse by a Palestinian businessman in their own country.

Due to high-level influence from Gulf based NRIs, Asianet terminated the service of this journalist in an unprofessional and uncivilized way. While the channel did not give any appointment letter to the journalist who was working as a part time reporter for two years, the channel was swift to send a termination letter by fax to the newspaper office where he was working. This was in violation of a tacit understanding that reporting for Asianet from Muscat was on an informal basis and without mentioning a byline with the stories. By sending an official fax, the channel officials were indirectly helping those who were trying to get him sacked from the official newspaper. The official fax provided ample proof that the journalist was “illegally working “for the channel. The private school lobby, especially the two business groups in Muscat viz the Khimji Ramdas Group and the Galfar group, were trying their level best to get the journalist’s services terminated. The journalist was earlier subjected to continuous harassment through threatening phone calls and letters, which warned of physical elimination if reports about corruption in Indian schools continue to be telecast through Asianet. The channel also reported about the “threats to eliminate this journalist and Adarsh Madhavan of Times of Oman by the school lobby.

A couple of investigative reports published by the Oman Daily Observer also disturbed these influential people who used their Vastha (influence) with the higher authorities to stop such reports appearing in the local media. These threats and intimidation was duly informed in writing to the local authorities and the newspaper editor. Asianet stopped publishing about Indian schools by this reporter and terminated his service because its own senior editor K P Mohan, who worked as a journalist with the Kuwait Times, was involved in a similar scandal in Kuwait. In his capacity as a school board member, he was accused of swindling several crores of rupees from Indian School Kuwait during the Iraq invasion. It is a well-known fact that the Kuwait Government has issued an arrest warrant against him.The business lobby was influencing the editor and other officials for getting this journalist sacked from the job. While their influence worked in the official media, the journalist continued to report about certain crucial issues in the newly created website, keralamonitor.com. The emergence of Internet as a powerful and democratic media has changed the situation. When faced with a dilemma of not able to report blatant human right violations in the mainstream media and the sincere desire to help such victims of grave human rights violations, this journalist started the small website (http://www.keralamonitor.com), which has become a very popular medium in the Sultanate within three years. The portal started in the year 2000 has made a deep impact in the local media scene within three years as a number of stories filed by it yielded results. In order to counter its growing popularity another website was launched by the business tycoons in association with some local journalists to spread hatred against this journalist and the Indian Ambassador in Muscat .

In addition to reports on the Indian School issue which were not well received by the business groups with interest in private school business, at least two crime reports in the website affected their image. One of the reports was about the arrest and interrogation of Kanaksi Khimji, the winner of Pravasi Bharathi Award, his son Pankaj Khimji and other family members for serious financial fraud. While the official media was silenct about the issue, the website report was well received by majority of the Indian community members. However, the power and influence of these business groups finally succeeded and the journalist’s annual contract with the newspaper was not renewed. They did not attribute any reasons for the termination (February 2004). In an ideal situation any editor would have supported a journalist facing a difficult situation, but in this case, the senior British editor was in a hurry to get rid of the reporter. A year ago when the journalist was featured in the cover story of a magazine, the British editor “suspended” him without attributing any reasons. Later on he changed the decision which was taken without consulting the senior officials. In addition, the business groups started a new hate campaign through a dedicated website with similar name (newkeralamonitor.com) to tarnish the public image of the journalist. It accused him of receiving money from various sources for writing reports and even questioned the journalistic credentials of this reporter.

In any part of the world journalists, who play an important role in moulding public opinion, get due respect in society. This reporter was called two times to the Royal Oman Police Headquarters in Qurum for questioning about some reports related to Indian Schools and the Indian community, which had nothing to do with the local government or political issues. The police officer (who had nothing to do with journalist or media) was clearly bribed by the local business tycoons to “warn and stop” his writings against their interest. The Khimji group also approached the local police with complaints against this journalist. An independent Omani journalist Sale Al Shaibhani who has been working for the Reuters News Agency was subjected to periodic harassment for reporting. In one instance, the Reuters correspondent was grilled for reporting about a student demonstration in the Sultan Qaboos University. Reporting about official corruption and bureaucracy will always invite the wrath of the government machinery. Journalists who are breaking the self-censorship are officially harassed to leave the country. Adarsh Madhavan, the firebrand reporter of Times of Oman was asked to stop his popular column City lights due to external influence. His passport was impounded and and the journalist was interrogated in the ROP Head office several times. He was not allowed to leave the country to attend official assignments. Maltreatment of journalists is the norm -- in public functions attended by ministers and VIPs scribes are not offered seats or other facilities. Reporters of Al Jazeera also faced harassment occasionally for reporting anti war and anti-US protest marches. While there is an officially sponsored press club, its membership is restricted to Arab journalists. While evaluating performance or giving promotions, expatriate journalists are not considered. There is no forum like a Press club or journalist association where journalists can raise their problems or seek justice.

While the government controls the media through subsidies and other subtle controls, the big business houses in Oman which belong to politically influential business families and tribes exert considerable pressure on newspaper editors and journalists. Big Business Houses who are major advertisers act like business editors of newspapers. On many instances they dictate terms and editorial policy. They also use their clout with the government as well as the advertising power to silence media and journalists. In the case of this author, three major business houses of Oman viz. the Khimji Ramdas group (Kanaksi Khimji, the winner of Pravasi Bharathi Award), Galfar Group (Mohammed Ali, winner of Pravasi Bharathi Award 2004) and the Bahwans group joined hands with other vested interests to demand his removal from the newspaper. Making a mockery of media freedom, the newspaper editor succumbed to their pressure. They bargained with the newspaper’s British managing editor to remove the journalist from the newspaper in return for more advertisement from companies. In addition they also threatened to withdraw advertisements from the newspaper if he is not sacked. Even though Britain claims to be a land of free media, this particular editor has joined hands with the business groups to sideline and harass the journalist for silly reasons. Journalists are asked not raise serious questions in press conferences and don’t write anything even remotely critical of the business groups. The clout enjoyed by the local dealers of leading automobile companies is evident from the fact that special instructions are given to business editors not to carry any negative reports filed by international news agencies from South East Asia about problems in automobile companies like Daewoo from Korea.

The two business groups -- Khimjis and Galfar- were unhappy because of obvious reasons. Though they could influence the mainstream media and prevent publishing anything about the Khimji group when it faced a serious investigation for financial fraud, the journalist could not be prevented from writing the story in the website (keralamonitor.com). Due to the international importance of the story, leading Indian channel like NDTV or Pranoy Roy (Sanjay Sing, Reporter, NDTV) approached this journalist for details about the arrest and wanted to pursue the story. The event occurred a few months after Khimji was selected for the prestigious Pravasi Bharathi Award by the Indian Government. However, the report did not appear in any media other than Keralamaonitor.com for unknown reasons. The local media, which is supposed to be fighting corporate scams pretended as if nothing has happened.

The two groups illegally control two community schools and make millions by squeezing ordinary parents. There are more than 20,000 students enrolled with 14 Indian community schools, which are supposed to be non-profit organizations working on no profit no loss basis. There are 3 lakh Indians living in Oman and most of them earn salary in the range of RO 100 to RO 250 -25 per cent of their monthly earning is going for education. A major chunk of it goes as cost of educating their children because of abnormally high fees charged by these schools. Due to mismanagement and corruption these schools charge very high fees, making education a costly affair for the vast majority of Indians living in the Sultanate. Many families keep their children at schools in Kerala where education is cheap. Corruption in Indian schools is a common pattern in all the gulf countries and the Kuwait Indian school story is well known in Kerala. The two groups were unhappy with this reporter because his reports in the mainstream media and the website revealed their illegal and unethical control over community schools, which they control by bribing former ambassadors – patron of Indian schools. The two business tycoons have managed through dubious means and bribery to convert public community schools into private schools in violation of Oman’s education rules. Thanks to media reports, rampant corruption in the Indian school system was exposed. A sincere Indian Foreign Service Officer K M Meena and tried to reform the schools with more participation of parents and the public. He also intended to reduce high fees and help the needy parents. His policy was to ensure that Indian schools offered fundamental right to education for everyone at affordable cost. However, the business lobby campaigned vigorously against him and this journalist using the local media and money power. Meena was prematurely transferred out of Muscat and was trapped in a legal tussle.

The local media including leading Malayalam channels either supported the business lobby or remained silent when the lobby was harassing the diplomat who stood for a public cause. This journalist was also harassed for supporting the community and the ambassador’s right moves for public welfare. My experience showed that the local media in Oman lack a sense of morality and social responsibility. Journalists themselves joined hands with the rich and powerful as mercenary writers to discredit genuine journalists. They receive favours and pleasure trips in return for presenting a larger than life image to these corrupt tycoons. The media’s role here is to show only the positive side of the rich and famous. Even though these two NRIs are selected by the Indian Government for the prestigious Pravasi Bharathi Award, their business interests and policies clashed with the community interest. The Central Bank of Oman recently issued a warning to local banks alerting them to stop giving further credit facility to the Galfar Group due to unknown reasons. This was the latest report that provoked the Galfar group to campaign against this journalist.

After Asianet started a Gulf news programme utilizing resources raised from overseas Indians, especially from the Gulf region, Kairali channel too entered the scene, creating a new medium to air public grievances. Despite the positive contribution made by these channels in highlighting some issues, the visual media appears to be under the influence of business lobbies and vested interests. It is unfortunate that these channels are controlled by commercial interest of advertisers and influential businessmen in the Gulf who dictate terms in one way or another. Part of the capital required to start these channels came from ordinary shareholders in the Gulf and the channels should have a moral responsibility to air their grievances.

However, much of the programmes targeted at the overseas Indian community show only the rosy side of Gulf life. Many a times, very substandard programmes made by non- professionals are telecast just for getting the advertisement revenue. Even though advertisement revenue is the life- blood of media industry, professionalism should not be fully sacrificed. New channels like Jeevan, Middle East Television and India Vision too started with much enthusiasm. Middle East Television has already closed operation due to financial difficulties. With due respect to all efficient journalists working in the visual media, these channels need to have a professional team of trained reporters in the Gulf who can handle serious issues on merit. Despite making multicrore advertising revenue, a leading Malayalam channel pays a salary which is less than the monthly earning of a housemaid or construction worker in the Gulf! No one can expect a journalist getting poor salary to be independent or objective in his profession. Mostly advertorials and sponsored programmes are presented as news and entertainment packages. The quality of programmes also needs much to be desired. However, some special programmes like the Pravasi Lokam of Kairali need to be appreciated.

Recently there has been a mushrooming of Gulf editions of Malayalam Newspapers. The trend was started with Malayalam News published from Saudi Arabia and Gulf Madhyamam from Bahrain. Deepika is the latest entrant with plans for a new Gulf edition from the Dubai media city. While the established newspapers like Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhoomi, Deshabhimani and Kaumudi still lag behind the Gulf based new breed of newspapers in covering Gulf Indians problems. A commendable work to highlight serious issues affecting the Gulf Keralites is being done by both Malayalam News and Gulf Madhyamam. Even though Internet portals about overseas Keralites have mushroomed, their focus is the elite section of society. Malayalam portal www.weblokam.com has a dedicated section for overseas Keralites and this author writes a column “Gulf Diary” for the portal. Media working under strict censorship of local governments have their own limitations. After September 11 and the Iraq war, various governments in the region including Oman started imposing fresh media restrictions. A number of internet portals hosted in US servers are hacked or removed by the FBI. Media is strictly monitored and it is a Herculean task for journalists to protect human rights with pen. Pen, rather mouse is no longer mightier than the sword in this part of the world. Contradiction between the actual and declared policy is bound to widen and journalists have a tougher time ahead. Even if there is more democratization the power of business houses remain in tact posing another challenge to the media.

Conclusion: The above facts clearly indicate that human right violations in the Gulf region need the attention of local and international media. There is a wide gap between what the media project about human rights in the region and the ground reality. The Gulf media often neglects serious human rights violations within the country, which adversely affect the weaker sections of society. They always highlight human rights issues outside the country. There are exceptions as the UAE based newspapers cover these problems occasionally. Independent journalists cannot work sincerely due to the intimidating tactics employed by the government, police and business groups. Newspaper editors are not answerable to any professional bodies about arbitrary termination of service or harassment of journalists. In order to ensure Media freedom there should be a forum of independent journalists or professional editors, which should be answerable to international journalist associations like the Reporters Sans Frontiers or Indian Press Associations or human rights bodies.

The Malayalam media need to focus more on the humanitarian issues affecting vast majority of Indians living in the Gulf rather than acting as cheap propaganda machinery for some rich businessmen or focusing their programmes only on substandard entertainment. Payment and working condition of journalists working for the Malayalam media in the Gulf need to be improved substantially. They should be paid more than a housemaid or construction worker. There should be job safety to protect their professional integrity. Maintaining a proper balance between commercial interest and professional integrity is needed and one should not be sacrificed for the other.

The author is a journalist currently based in the Dubai Media City , UAE reporting to the International Herald Tribune/Daily Star from the New York Times group. He has worked with the Indian Express, Asianet and the Oman Daily Observer. He is the founder editor of http://www.keralamonitor.com, an Internet portal focusing on the life of overseas Keralite community in the Gulf. He also writes a column Gulf Diary in the Malayalam Internet Portal Weblokam.com (http://www.weblokam.com) The author was featured in the cover story of Thursday Magazine from the Times of Oman (Muscat) and the portal was featured in Gulf News, the leading English daily from the Middle East and Gulf Madhyamam. He has also participated in discussions on NRK issues in Asianet, Kairali and Middle East Television. Sathish holds a first class first rank M A in International Relations, School of International Studies, Mahatma Gandhi University, and a first class first rank M.Phil Degree from the School of International Studies, Pondicherry Central University. He was also a Ford Foundation Doctoral Scholar in the Department of Political Science Bombay University. His Research Reports are published in leading academic journalist like Man and Development, Radical Humanist and the Indian Journal of Political Science. His opinion columns are also published in leading Indian newspapers like the Telegraph, the Sunday Observer, Observer of Business & Politics, the Independent, Metropolis on Saturday, the Blitz, Free Press Journal, Business Standard and Financial Express. He can be contacted at satheeshvm@hotmail.com