(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
MANAMA, 15th August, 2017 (WAM) -- Bahraini Information Affairs Minister, Ali Mohammed Al-Romaihi, has slammed the subversive role of the Qatari information policy, saying that Bahrain has long been suffering from the Aljazeera Satellite Channel ever since it was established twenty years ago.
Bahrain News Agency, BNA, quoted Mr. Al-Romaihi as saying, in a statement to Bahrain, that the Qatari channel aired more than 900 reports and news items painting a negative image of Bahrain.
"The Qatari citizens who feel the brunt today due to the accusations targeting their country have to realise the daily accusations leveled against Bahrain over twenty years", he said.
He said that the media has become part of the problem, fanning the flames of the crisis, rather than part of the solution, adding that the crisis with Qatar had been simmering long before the quartet decided to sever diplomatic relations with Doha.
"The history of the crisis with Qatar is rooted in the Doha-run media policies which paid no heed to kinship relations bonding the Arabian gulf countries.
The ministry outlined the Qatari information policy which has been targeting Bahrain and interfering in its internal affairs blatantly, through its media arm, Aljazeera channel.
"When Bahrain expressed displeasure at hosting outlaws and branding them as the opposition, Qatar claimed that Aljazeera is an independent channel", he said, adding that Qatari people have nothing to do with his country's subversive media role which does not represent the Qatari people.
He said that Qatari people did not benefit from Aljazeera channel which was launched some twenty ago as an big media investment project and training centre, noting that Qatari nationals barely make up 5 percent of the overall Aljazeera personnel and most of them play a secondary role away from the limelight.
Mr. Al-Romaihi said that Aljazeera provides intensive media coverage for the smallest incident in the farthest country and turns it into a big sensational event while ignoring the tragic death of 13 children in a blaze which gutted a shopping mall in the vicinity of the channel.
He concluded by saying that the media policies, however subversive, will never succeed in sparking divisions and driving wedges between people, adding that Arabian Gulf nationals are keen on protecting the Gulf Cooperation Council.
He said that the crisis would continue brewing as long as Qatar pays no heed to the steps taken against its subversive policies. He pointed out that Aljazeera officials benefit the most from the simmering GCC crisis.
WAM/Esraa Ismail/Chris Moran
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