Seems the shifting political sands in Kuwait have led to a recent crackdown on one of the country's most innovative media programs, the weekly TV show Diwaniya. Blogger Kuwait Unplugged was supposed to be on the show - a discussion about blogging in Kuwait - but the episode got blocked from the air on orders of the government:
Here I was ready to celebrate my blog's 4th birthday today with a possible recap of our appearance on an episode about blogs on the weekly show "Diwaniat Al-Osbou3", hosted by Dr. Shafiq Al-Ghabra, that was scheduled on KTV last night, but alas... it was not meant to be. Instead KTV pulled the plug (geddit?) because apparently the topic was too hot for their liking. I felt like the Ministry of Information had cancelled my party at the last minute, like they do on with musical concerts on a regular basis under whatever bogus religious pretense.
Upon chatting with my colleagues who appeared on the show, we tried to recall if we had possibly said anything controversial that may have provoked this cancellation. None of us felt that we said much, but then I pointed out that our standards and definitions of "freedom of speech" are very different from the government's and while we may say what we want on our blogs without fear of recrimination (the worst that could happen - so far - is that some over-zealous ISP could block your blog), when it comes to the government's own media a big fat line is drawn, never to be crossed...
In any case, with KTV's pathetically low viewership ratings, I'm betting not many people would've caught the show had it aired on schedule. Now that it's been censored, the natural reaction is, of course, more curiosity and interest.
They just don't learn, do they? The more effort you spend suppressing voices, the more those voices will find ways to be heard. The government should stop wasting its time and resources on suppressing opinions and focus on running the country. I even said that on the show.... wait a minute! Could that be the reason it got cancelled?! I hope I'm wrong!
Happy Birthday :) and thank you for an informative, cleverly written blog.
Posted by: Manuela | March 27, 2007 at 09:11 AM