The Prime Minister said that he rejects any restriction on freedom of press. “If there is anything that we are proud of in Kuwait – it is our press freedom,” he said, adding that there are no intentions to muzzle the media.
“Even though we get displeased sometimes with some of the publications, it does not mean that we will close the media,” he said, adding that most of the problems Kuwait faces are due to press exaggerations. “Why can’t we be realistic and sit down and discuss those problems,” he wondered.
The Prime Minister expressed his confidence in Kuwait journalism and their keenness on the country’s interests, expressing his readiness to “listen to the opinion of the Editors-in-Chief in regards to the unified media law or other topics that are of interest to the media.”
He said that the government is not against the press – rather it supports it and is proud of it. “Kuwait Journalism is a pioneer in defending the country both domestically and abroad, even if it criticized the government’s performance,” he stressed.
On the verdicts in most ‘opinion’ cases that were filed by state security or information ministry, HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak said “we respect the judiciary and their ruling.”
The Prime Minister said that the proposed law has not been sent to the National Assembly. “We are exchanging views with the media so as to reach a working formula that does not compromise the freedom of the press or its mission. If you (media) reject the proposal, then it will be kept in the drawers,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Information Minister and State Minister for Youth Affairs Sheikh Salman Al-Humoud Al-Sabah said the Unified Media Law proposal is not a minister’s proposal but that of the state, adding that Kuwait press establishments have a respected opinion. On the issues of drawbacks in the law, he said the draft law deals with the loopholes in the 2006 law.
