Teaching Freedom of Speech, the Press, and Media Law in the Middle East in Contrast to US

'Free and self-governing' societies cannot be taken for granted

Assigned to teach media law in the Middle East, specifically at a university in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, I quickly learned that I had to teach it quite differently than how I learned it in the United States, because the cultural assumptions of students were entirely different.

When I started teaching, leaders told us we were nation-building: a young country, only 40 years old, needed help creating professional media and educational standards, modernizing its media infrastructure, learning about media law, journalism, public relations; the marketplace of ideas, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The university embraced accreditation requirements from American institutions.

These Western accreditation standards required me to teach the rationale behind freedom of speech, press, religion, the right of citizens to petition their government and engage in freedom of assembly. But I also had to inform students, without expressing an opinion that the UAE government enforced media laws that by Western standards were severe. And I had to report that the UAE frequently cracked down on free speech rights.

Socratic Method

I started by asking “What is freedom of speech?” I wanted students to define it for themselves,