Middle East - UAE: An American news agency criticized the United Arab Emirates (UAE), describing it as an authoritarian country in which there is no freedom of the press.

In a report, the  Associated Press expressed its alarm at the strict media censorship practiced by the UAE authorities during the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Abu Dhabi.

The agency said that the UAE is an authoritarian country that does not allow journalists to cover visits except through state-run media.

The report stated that media coverage of Herzog's trips, and before him, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, to the autocratic UAE has been tightly controlled.

The report added that "the Emirati authorities have not invited journalists to the palace where meetings are held, nor planned any press conferences."

News from the visits surfaces only through careful statements on state-run media. Israel has not brought Israel-based journalists to join the trips of either leader, it added.

The UAE emerges as a state that suppresses and prohibits freedom of opinion and expression and prevents the right to exchange information.

The UAE authorities control the media through the National Media Council, which is affiliated with the Council of Ministers in accordance with Federal Law No. 11 of 2016 and its decisions are only effective after ratification.

The security mentality prevails in the Emirates in dealing with the media and freedom of opinion and expression through a series of laws that represent a sword wielded over everyone who expresses his opinion on the internal or foreign policy of the state.

The Emirati media does not have the ability to exercise freedom of opinion and expression as much as it does misinformation.

Strict control

The Emirati media is subject to strict management and control by the state security apparatus, the gatekeeper, who struggles to keep his word the only and dominant one in the media and social networks.

International condemnation

On April 20, Reporters Without Borders ranked the UAE low in the World Press Index for 2021.

The organization highlighted the reality of “the absence of an independent press and the pursuit of dissenting voices” in the UAE, which ranked 131st out of 180 countries.

"The United Arab Emirates has become proficient in the online surveillance of journalists, who often fall victim to its 2012 cyber-crime law," the organization said.

"Very minimal criticism of the regime by journalists or bloggers is likely to lead to charges of defamation, insulting the state or posting false information aimed at damaging the country’s reputation, with the possibility of long jail terms and mistreatment in prison," it added.

Translated report written by YPA