Report on Obama and nothing else

Journalists travelling with Barack Obama to Saudi Arabia have been told to report only on the visit and nothing else.

This is what one journalist received from the US state department

The Saudi government is permitting journalists accompanying President Obama entry into the country without a visa or the usual customs procedures. While in Saudi Arabia, therefore, journalists are expressly prohibited from leaving the hotel or engaging in any journalistic activities outside of coverage of the POTUS visit. Those who do so risk arrest and detention by Saudi authorities.

Hardline clerics want women banned from Saudi media

The latest in supression of female in Saudi Arabia is reported in this piece by Yahoo news which says that.

a group of Saudi clerics urged the kingdom's new information minister on Sunday to ban women from appearing on TV or in newspapers and magazines, making clear that the country's hardline religious establishment is skeptical of a new push toward moderation.

According to the piece,the clergy men also are trying to outlaw the playing of music on Tv and music shows in general.

Saudi citizen journalists blog the sandstorm

Saudi Arabia may not be the most free place for citizen journalists to operate in but when it comes to reporting freak sandstorms bloggers have excelled.

This from You Tube on the sandstorm that hit the capital Riyahd



Source Global voices online