MIDDLE EAST
PROFILE
NATIONAL
ENQUIRER
Sultan Al Qassemi is one of the UAE’s most
outspoken Emirati columnists—but he refuses to
write for the “one-sided” Arabic press
By BEN FLANAGAN
It is the day after the UAE’s Federal National Council than the so-called government restrictions on the press.
approved a new media law which—should it also He points the finger of blame squarely at the editorial
pass at cabinet level—many journalists believe will decisions made by journalists and media owners, rather
be a blow to press freedom. But Sultan Al Qassemi, than the national media law.
The National’s outspoken Emirati columnist, doesn’t seem A recent example of why Al Qassemi disdains the re-
bothered about it at all. gional press is the Gulf News coverage of the conflict in
“There was a negative reaction to the new law,” he says. Gaza, which featured some very graphic images on the
“But if they see what I get away with…” front page of the newspaper. “It’s like the Paris Hilton sex
He trails off. tapes,” he says. “It’s violence pornography. They don’t
To fill in the gaps: Al Qassemi has got away with rather have quality; it’s selling copies by shocking people.”
a lot. His columns have, in no particular order, described Al Qassemi also takes umbrage with a recent Gulf News
UAE censorship policy as ‘schizophrenic’; they have posed opinion piece by Dr Mohammad Al Mutawa. The article,
the question of whether the ‘Jews of Arabia’ should be of- which claimed that the “Nazi holocaust was a mere lie,
fered citizenship in their ancestral homes; there was a which was devised by the Zionists to blackmail humanity”,
piece calling Islamic finance a ‘sham’; and Al Qassemi has attracted fierce criticism in the UAE and beyond (includ-
called Jamal Abdul Nasser a ‘dictator’—something that he ing a critical piece in the UK’s The Guardian). Al Qassemi
claims “you cannot do in any Arabic newspaper”. says that this “does damage—because he’s an idiot”.
The list goes on. And it poses the question: If Al Qas- (Media Week recently contacted Dr Al Mutawa, who
semi can “get away with” this, are the local media laws claims that his article was mistranslated from the Arabic
really that draconian, as many claim? Clearly not, says Al by Gulf News staff. He adds that he does not stand by the
Qassemi—who claims that the majority of newspapers in sentiment expressed in the article, a revised version of
the region are “rubbish”. which has now been posted on the newspaper’s website.)
“The Arabic writing is rotten—it’s all one-sided. It’s ‘all Al Qassemi has made quite an impression since his first
Americans are bad—and Arabs are the victims’. I’m fed up column appeared in The National last April. He is certainly
with it, and it’s not always true,” he says. “Will the local popular: Sitting in a coffee shop at the Dubai International
press ever improve? You can’t teach an Financial Centre, he is constantly
old dog new tricks. It’ll never change.” interrupted by passing friends
He adds, “The only two decent pa-
Arabic writing is
and colleagues from his brokerage
I send to the newspaper to publish; sometimes they need
pers are [Lebanon’s] The Daily Star and
rotten—it’s all
company, Barjeel Securities.
to clean up the language first. They say that I’m too West-
The National. A lot [of newspaper con- He also has plenty of profes-
ernised, that I don’t understand the Arab Street, and that
tent] is syndicated news—it’s cramped
one-sided. It’s ‘all
sional admirers. Journalist Frank
I should read more.”
with advertisements. Some media will Americans are Kane describes Al Qassemi as “the
However, this is exactly what Al Qassemi thrives on.
sell their soul for advertisements.” best Emirati writing in English in
He actively enjoys this engagement, this argument—and
bad—and Arabs are
Al Qassemi does not get a completely the UAE media—I wish there were
says that he aims to inject some much-needed debate into
free reign at The National. He says—
the victims’. I’m fed
more like him.” Another commen-
UAE intellectual life. “It’s like a swamp here, where people
cryptically, and without elaborating— up with it. tator says: “He’s very controversial.
don’t disagree with others,” he says, adding, “The best way
that he “dread[s] the phone calls on Sat- He’s more opinionated than most,
to become better is to be self-critical.”
urday, about my articles. The occasional phone calls”. and that makes him very readable.
He implies that his work is ‘edited’ at times: “I used the There’s a bit of a terrier in there: he gets an idea and he
word ‘kleptocracy’ to describe some Arab leaders. They shakes it.”
VITALS
didn’t publish it,” he says. Al Qassemi reacts modestly to such praise. He says that,
Still, he claims to be “very loyal” to The National, and— if he has prominence as an Emirati writer, it’s only because
when asked about his future plans in the media—says other writers have not been given the right opportunities. Sultan Al Qassemi
that he’d like to present a political, social and economic “A lot of them are shy to write, a lot weren’t encouraged.”
TV show, possibly under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi- But there is some backlash against him, or the paper Age: 31
owned newspaper. that he has chosen to write for. Some say that he is over- Nationality: Emirati
“I’m happy to write for The National for the rest of my intent on striking an ‘outspoken’ tone. Others says that he Education: American University of Paris, European
life,” he says. “But I’d like them to launch a syndication is a ‘token’ Arab on the largely Western staff of The Nation- Business School (London)
service, so people can hear a moderate voice from this al. (Al Qassemi says that he would not write for the Arabic Other interests: Founder of brokerage firm Barjeel
region. People are hearing one-sided views—the ‘victim press because the quality is so low). Securities
mentality’ view, which is critical of the West.” And there are frequent—and critical—public responses
It is this ‘victim mentality’ that riles Al Qassemi, rather to his writing. “I get a lot of emails criticising [me], which
www.mediaweekme.com
25 JANUARY 2009 / 09
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