After more than twenty years of freezing, the Journalism and Electronic Media Law expressed the first extraordinary session of the House of Representatives, driven by a parliamentary majority, national consensus, and a press voice that has been calling for a law that mimics the times, and protects the free word from being bound or tried, it is a detailed moment in the history of Bahraini press, in which he launched a new era of legalization, organization, recognition and professionalism.
The new press law did not come in a vacuum, but rather is the fruit of a long discussion between the government represented in the Ministry of Information, the House of Representatives in its Services Committee in multiple sessions, the Association of Journalists at various management councils, and the general media body that has remained throughout the years demanding the cancellation of imprisonment in publishing cases, regulating digital media, and expanding the umbrella of legal protection for workers in the profession.
The People’s Assembly, in the presence of the editors and journalists, approved the new formula of the law that carried fundamental changes, most notably the abolition of imprisonment in all publishing cases, only the fine, expanding the powers of the judge in estimating the punishment, and adding an independent separation regulating the electronic media, while Article 90 bis that sparked controversy over the authorization of the Minister of Information is the authority to organize the activities that are not covered by laws, the deputies rejected it, to control The powers are not to open the doors of interpretation according to their interventions.
In the interventions of the deputies in a very exceptional and long session, the deputies stressed the importance of the distinction between individual and commercial accounts, between personal opinion and organized media work, stressing that the aim of the law is not restriction but rather the organization, nor restriction but empowerment, at a time when social media platforms turned into a major source of information and news, and sometimes even for guidance and influence, some of them for fueling and mobilization.
This law, which passed through the labor of Asir, cannot be separated from the vital role that Dr. Raman Al -Nuaimi, the Minister of Information, who dealt with the file as a national issue that deserves patience, persuasion and field work, has played, since receiving the ministerial bag, the minister is keen to involve everyone: political associations, local newspapers, the Association of Journalists, the National Institution for Human Rights, and members of the legislative authority, until the draft law has become – as he expressed – as he expressed – The product of real compatibility, not only a government paper.
It was not lost from the scene the authentic professional voice, and one of the pillars of the Bahraini press. Mr. Issa Al -Shayji, President of the Bahraini Journalists Association, confirmed that the project represents a long -awaited legislative shift, and establishes a more just and fair legal environment, indicating that it reflects a serious national consensus, and that the inclusion of an independent electronic media chapter is a qualitative shift in which Bahrain is included in the developed countries in this The field also praised the direction of the abolition of negative penalties for freedom, the opening of a broader space for the judiciary, and respect for the responsible freedom of expression.
But with this qualitative jump, there is still a gap that must be closed in the next legislative stage, which is the issue of legalizing news accounts that are active on social media, as the original information starts from the journalist, publishes by the newspaper through its professional gates, then taken without referral or mention of the source by pages and accounts that may harvest thousands of reactions with a tweet or a vague “post”, which has an exciting title and perhaps misleading, not subject For any professional law or charter.
These accounts are today an extensive media phenomenon, but it is outside the organization, and sometimes exceeds the ethics of the profession, which puts us in front of a national responsibility to legislate a legal framework that determines those who have the right to practice news publication, and what are the conditions and controls, and when the account owner is asked as the journalist is asked in the event of transgression, freedom of publication does not mean escaping and evading responsibility It means suppression.
With the arrival of this law to the Shura Council in its last sessions for this role, we can only specialize in the Minister of the Minister of the Shura and Representatives Affairs, dear uncle Ghanem Al -Buainain with a word of thanks, due to its sophistication, calm and political intelligence in dealing with the House of Representatives throughout the past period and during this particular role, which witnessed a lot of the parliamentary movement, even in the most complex and most sensitive file And a man who agrees in times of stagnation, and his team in the ministry deserves appreciation at the level of performance and professionalism in managing the relationship between the two authorities.
