Media companies in the Middle East say a controversial charter adopted by many countries in the region needs to be rewritten because it has become another tool of censorship by authoritarian governments.
At a conference of the Arab Broadcast Forum in Abu Dhabi, several broadcasters complained about the charter, adopted by 22 Arab League countries in February. Only Qatar and Lebanon refused to sign.
The charter was created to govern satellite television, with the most controversial clause stating that broadcasters should "not offend leaders or national and religious symbols in the Arab world."
Ahmed Sheikh, the managing editor of Al-Jazeera, says the clause has already been used for censorship. Al-Jazeera is the region's main English-language network.
"It's clear it's just to shut mouths and hides the truth," said Sheikh.
"A week or so ago, we broadcast some pictures from Egypt where the demonstrators were trodding on the picture of [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak. The Egyptian government came to us and said this is defamation."
Sheikh says Al-Jazeera officials decided not to listen to the government.
Sheikh and others say the wording is too vague, giving governments permission to shut down broadcasters at will because certain clauses allow for that if a transmission threatens damage to social harmony, national unity or traditional values.
However, there are no explanations of what constitutes damage to any of those issues.
Critics got an olive branch this week when Amr Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League, announced through a taped message that he was seeking to revise the charter and would like broadcasters to send in their recommendations, an invitation many at the conference say should have come well before the document was even drafted.
