Caught Between Saudi Coalition and Houthi Rebels, Yemeni Journalists Face Challenges on All Sides

#FreeAbductedJournalists

Afef Abrougui from Global Voices published a lengthy report last week on the deteriorating bloody condition of Yemeni media and she interviewed me for the report last May for my take on the violations against Yemeni press following my analysis piece on the subject published by the Atlantic Council Centre published last May as well. The following is the Q&A interview I did with Afef :-

Afef Abrougui (AA): Reporters Without Borders describes the situation for journalists in Yemen as “disastrous”. Can you elaborate more on the types of violations journalists and media are facing in Yemen?

Me: The war has devastated almost every institution and sector in Yemen, including media group. However, in light of the war, journalists have been targeted deliberately and systematically because of their work. There is a massive violence against journalists by different armed groups; Houthis’ forces, Saleh’s forces and extremist groups like al Qaeda, ISIS and Salafis. The types of violations range between death threats, assassination attempts, unlawful killings, kidnappings, unlawful arrests, detentions without trials, forcibly disappearance, being used as civilian shields during armed fights, media offices being stormed in and forcefully shut down, new websites being blocked, among many other violations. The most shocking violation was the prosecution of a journalist and being sentenced to death.


AA: From the research that I have so far been doing online, it seems that Houthi rebels represent the main party responsible for these violations, what about the Saudi-led coalition? In addition to the airstrikes that killed journalists, have the coalition and those supporting Hadi been responsible for silencing journalists and media on the ground (at least in areas under their control)?

Me: Yes, both the Saudis and Hadi’s leadership share equally the reasons of why there is a blackout on Yemen war in media. As the war began in Yemen in early 2015, WikiLeaks released thousands of diplomatic cables from Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry, which included documents showing how Saudi Arabia is buying media silence, Arabic media in specific. Plus, reports have shown how the Saudis are hiring PR companies to polish its image in media and "whitewash” its record on human rights; especially on KSA’s war crimes in Yemen. On the other hand, Hadi’s government have blocked several independent foreign journalists from accessing the country; as their reporting challenges Hadi’s folks’ narrative of the situation in Yemen.


AA: How do you think these attacks/violations are impacting coverage of the war in Yemen, a war that is already under-reported? How does this affect independent media?

Me: Media coverage of Yemen war has become like a battle zone; those who have the money and power manage to use media as a weapon of war in promoting their side of the story only and shaping how Yemen war appears on mainstream media. Each side in the war portraits only its “truth” while it’s totally incomplete picture of the situation. As a result, you find a great deal of war propaganda. No middle ground for any other type of media; local independent press suffers a great deal and it has collapsed. The only remaining Yemeni independent media are the Yemeni freelance journalists or citizen journalists who turned into social media disseminating updates on the situation in Yemen.


AA: What can international organisations that work to promote press and media freedoms do to support Yemeni journalists who are on the ground?

Me: It’s very important to give these journalists the attention while they are alive not when they are killed or arrested; meaning it’s important to reach out to journalists inside Yemen and find ways to meet their needs. Very often, a local Yemeni journalist who is covering the war inside the country would his name grab international media’s headlines when he’s sentenced to death or killed or etc. The attention that these local journalists could get while they are alive could really give them a sort of protection from such violations. More importantly, as Yemen’s economy is collapsing, it’s crucial to financially support these local journalists working on the ground. This could happen through mutual cooperation or allocating assignments for these journalists. In simple words, it’s crucial to support Yemeni journalists or media groups morally and financially.


AA: When Houthi rebels first took control of the capital, they resorted to blocking a number of news websites and blogs, do they still engage in such tactics? Have you recently heard about websites or blogs getting blocked in the country?

Me: Yes, they still use such tactics. Several new websites are blocked in Yemen; such as this one - as Hodeidah is under the Houthis’ control and the website is critical to their behaviour in the city. Blogs are not very popular in Yemen but Facebook represents the equivalent of blogs. There are Facebook celebrities in Yemen who are very active in posting on FB and are critical to the Houthis. These celebrities’ FB accounts have been hacked and sometimes more than once. It seems that’s the Houthis’ tactic to censor.

In Audio, Yemen at the UN Human Rights Council

Last week, I participated in a side session on Yemen war and Public Freedoms; at UN Human Rights Council's 35th session in Geneva, the seminar was co-run by the Committee to Protect Journalists organisation and the Gulf Center for Human Rights and others. Other panellists were Yemeni Human Rights defender Radhya al-Mutawakel from Mwatan Organization and Sherif Mansour from CPJ. Full transcript can be found here. The following audio clips are the recording of my speech and Radhya's.

My audio interview with Status Hour podcast

I had a long chat about my work and Yemen with the Status Hour podcast's journalist Mohamad-Ali Nayel, a couple months ago. Though, the interview was published earlier this month. Full audio interview is here.

The Yemen War, Media, and Propaganda

#SaveYemeniJournalistss

*Yemeni media is one of the most affected aspects in the raging war in Yemen. In an unprecedented case, a Houthi-controlled court issued a death sentence earlier in April, against journalist Yahya al-Joubayhy, for being a “Saudi spy,” reflecting a glimpse of the risks Yemeni media workers endure.


The war in Yemen has negatively impacted media in multiple-levels. In 2016, in a televised speech, the leader of Houthi rebels, Abdelmalek al-Houthi, warned “The media workers are more dangerous to our country than the nationalist and warring mercenaries,” shows the hostility of militant groups toward the media. This hostility hinders the media’s ability to deliver news and stories about Yemen’s war, leaving Yemeni news audiences ignorant, dependent on military groups’ own media, and easy prey to war propaganda.

War on the Media

Yemen’s media has suffered a decline and retreated as it comes under increased pressure during the ongoing conflict. According to Yemen’s National Information Center, before the Houthis’ takeover of Yemen’s capital city Sanaa in September 2014, Yemen used to enjoy about 295 publications, four official state-owned TV channels, and fourteen privately-owned TV channels. Despite this media landscape, Freedom House ranked Yemen’s freedom of the press status amongst the worst in the world, and it has since declined.

Controlling the local and international narrative is crucial for the Houthis. When Houthi forces took over Sanaa in 2014, they shelled the Yemen state TV station, and soon after they replaced media professionals with Houthi-affiliated media groups. While this was happening in Houthi-controlled areas, newspapers and broadcasts in the north and south were suspended, such as the formerly state-owned Althawra and 14October newspapers. Instead, the Houthi's captured Althawra and turned it into a pro-Houthi outlet circulated only in the north, and 14October had a similar experience under the southern coalition. In Houthi-controlled areas, there has been a crackdown on media groups, the Yemeni internet service provider, Yemennet, which has blocked certain anti-Houthi websites, and the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Information accused media outlets of “inciting treason.” Controlling the media became even more prevalent in 2015 after the Saudis started their air campaign.

Today, in Houthi-controlled areas, there are ten Houthi-owned print publications, two Houthi-owned TV channels and one TV channel owned by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. In the south, a handful of TV channels and newspapers are currently working, the most notable are owned separately by Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar. There are also three independent media groups.

The deadliest violation against press in Yemen was the death of two Yemeni journalists who reportedly were used as human shields by Houthi forces to protect a military installation. In another instance, blogger and investigative journalist Mohammed al-Absi, known for reporting on a number of Houthi-related-corruption stories, was poisoned. While many believe Houthis are responsible, the investigation is still undergoing. The large-scale abuses against press in Yemen has not only made Yemen one of the most dangerous places to work as a journalist, but also has ranked the Houthis as the second worst abuser of press freedom in the world—only the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) surpasses them.

Meanwhile, Hadi and his government have begun focusing on using social media as the sole tool for dissemination of information starting from the day he escaped Sanaa to Aden in February 2015. Hadi was able to escape with the help of former Information Minister Nadia al-Saqqaf, who was tweeting about his alleged ‘critical health’ under Houthi imposed siege. Other Yemeni officials are also ordered to join and be active on Twitter, according to a Yemeni official who prefers to remain anonymous for security reasons. Hadi’s leadership has given more focus on using the internet as means to disseminate information in a country where only a quarter of its population has access to the internet, which is mainly the elite. The exiled government seems more concerned about addressing the international community than Yemenis.

Flawed Media Representation

As a result of the hindered and biased media landscape, both the international community and more particularly the Yemeni public receive a distorted picture of the Yemen war. This turmoil in the media landscape has undermined any relatively comprehensive media representation of the Yemen war. Each side of the media coverage focuses on its opponent’s atrocities, deliberately overlooking its own wrongdoings, to cast the other as the only perpetrator. More importantly, each side of the media may not necessarily instigate sectarianism, but it does instigate regionalism, antagonism, and violence by humanising one side and dehumanising the other. For instance, each side depicts the other as mercenaries for the Saudis or the Iranians, respectively, and depicts their dead as the only ones worthy of being called victims.

The polarized media outlets also characterize the beginning of the war differently. For pro-Houthi and Saleh media, it began when the Saudi-led coalition began its campaign, while for pro-exiled government media outlets, there is an emphasis on the Houthis’ coup d’etat. For Yemenis, it is impossible to get a full picture of the conflict. In the north, people not politically affiliated tend to gradually become Houthi supporters as most media outlets are affiliated with the Houthis, and vice versa in the south. As each understanding of the conflict becomes more biased, it becomes harder to reach national and local level reconciliation deals.

The international media, and specifically Arab media, coverage suffers from a different set of problems. A quick look at major news organizations shows a lack of coverage of Yemen in comparison to other global events, and rarely features Yemen articles in the headlines. There are three main reasons for this: first, Houthi forces either forcibly disappear or put behind bars non-propagandist Yemeni journalists; second, Saudi Arabia is buying media silence along with hiring PR companies to polish its image in media; and lastly, independent foreign journalists do not have access to the country.

Yemenis who are critical of both local coverage and international media find themselves disappointed and frustrated. Incomplete information coupled with frustration is something that armed groups, including the belligerent parties and extremist groups such as ISIS, prey on to attract recruits.

Most Yemeni journalists interviewed for this article expressed that they had no work because they had been forced to move back to their villages to escape the Houthi crackdown. One journalist pointed out that, “polarization in Yemeni media has never been this high. The problem is that there is no room for a middle ground. On one hand, Houthis allow press only if it is biased in favor of them, as does the Yemeni exiled-government. All that you have in Yemen now is propaganda and each side can support you, only if you abide by their propaganda.”

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*This article was originally written for and published at The Atlantic Council organization on the 3rd of May 2017. 

Featured Among Most 100 Influential Arabs

I did it again. I’m among ArabianBusiness’ latest list of 100 most influential Arabs. Unbelievable!