Saudi Bloggers Profiled

Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, now with Fox News, produced a story (“Saudi Bloggers Shatter the Kingdom’s Silence and Censorship“) today which provides a helpful update on the blogging landscape in the Kingdom.  She talked with Ahmed Al-Omran (Saudi Jeans), Eman Al Nafjan (Saudiwoman’s Weblog) and Basma Al-Mutlaq (Saudi Amber) for the story.  Miller’s focus was on the three bloggers’ experiences but she mixed in a few facts, figures and analyses, such as “the estimated 5,000 Saudi blogs have given the more than 6 million Saudis who are online an outlet not only to vent their considerable frustrations, but a place to press for political and social change.”  One hole in the story was her recounting of Al-Omran’s “frustrating week” which included, “death threats to remove pictures he had posted on his Web site of university women clad from head to toe in their black abayas, the shrouds they are required to wear in public.”  The facts, according to Al-Omran himself, on Saudi Jeans, were a little different.  He was talking about a Swiss photographer named Michael, who had been threatened for his posting several photos of women in abayas — which were more provocative than the clad “head to toe” description offered by Ms. Miller.

Here’s the Miller story for your reading pleasure.  ”Saudi Bloggers Shatter the Kingdom’s Silence and Censorship” and the Saudi Jeans post on the abaya pics.

Tagged as: bloggers, conservatives, progressives, reform, religious establishment, society, women