English-language Qatari newspaper The Peninsula (al Jazeera, in Arabic) reports that the Doha Centre for Media Freedom has finally found a successor to its founder Robert Menard who left unexpectedly in 2009.

The paper writes that the new director general is again not a Qatari despite the fact that there is no shortage of qualified local journalists.

Local observers reportedly say that a Qatari journalist would have been a more appropriate choice as the Centre’s mission is to promote media freedom in the Middle East.

Middle East experience
Jan Keulen, 61, is from the Dutch NGO Free Voice, an organization similar to the one (Reporters Without Borders) that his predecessor Menard belonged to and eventually ended up in disputes with the Qatari authorities on how the Centre for Media Freedom should be run.

Mr Keulen is thought likely to run into the same kind of problems unless he receives a clear mandate. The new director general has worked at a prominent Dutch newspaper, and as a long-time former Middle East correspondent has extensive experience of the region. His postings included Amman, Beirut and Cairo.

After Robert Menard’s departure two years ago, the Centre for Media Freedom mainly limited itself to the occasional press release on media issues elsewhere in the world - usually ignoring Qatar and the other member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Cricket
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom has been controversial right from the start. The only Qatari on its 12-member board is its chairman, Sheikh Hamad Bin-Thamer Al Thani - a member of the ruling royal family - who also heads the board of the Al-Jazeera news channel.

The members of the board include novelists, writers and politicians, some of them quite controversial. One of the members is former Indian junior minister and UN under-secretary general for communications Shashi Tharoor. Mr Tharoor resigned from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet following accusations that he abused his office to get shares in the India Premier League (cricket) franchise of Cochin.

The Advisory Council of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom is headed by the Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Dr Hamad Abd-al-Aziz al-Kuwari, but has only one Qatari as member, author Nasir al-Uthman. The council, surprisingly, includes Daniel Barenboim, an Israeli pianist and conductor.

State-sponsored
In an apparent change of policy, the Centre no longer provides shelter to journalists facing threats in their countries, as was the case before under Robert Menard’s leadership. One of the Centre's stated objectives is to raise awareness about the importance of media freedom among the people of Qatar and other countries in the Middle East.

Critics are saying the centre would do better to focus on the region’s governments, as they are to blame for the widespread lack of press freedom. However, that could prove to be a tough assignment for a state-sponsored media watchdog.

(gsh/rk)