Media freedom

Media freedom essential pillar of national security: NU-Q dean

Media freedom is an essential pillar of national and global security, Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) dean and CEO Dr Everette E Dennis told a European conference on a comprehensive approach to security in Vienna, Austria, 
recently. Dr Dennis gave the keynote address at the meeting of the Organisation on Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) that took up the role of free media in the context of the politico-military, economic and human dimensions of security. 
The dean spoke in front of more than 100 European government leaders, security officials, educators and other officials at a palace in 
Vienna’s historic Hofburg. 
In a discussion that also touched on the role of media in the blockade of Qatar, the dean said the information war in the Gulf is replete with fabricated news stories and crude attempts to undermine government and the social order. 
He also referred to the aggressors’ demands to close Al Jazeera, the most pervasive voice in the region and one that champions investigative reporting, and itself a linchpin of media freedom and a source of essential information that governments want to suppress.