DCMF bids farewell to its director

Doha Centre for Media Freedom recently held a farewell ceremony for its former director Jan Keulen who was relieved of his duties last month.
The ceremony was attended by the chair of DCMF executive committee, Abdel Jalil Alami and  finance and administrative affairs director, Saleh Shawi, along with staff members.
The gathering was marked by a welcome note delivered by International Relations director, Jaber Al Marri, who lauded Keulen’s contribution to the centre and wished him the best  for his future.
Keulen thanked all the people who supported him to carry out his responsibilities, especially his wife whom he said “sacrificed a lot and was a great support to me.” He also thanked Alami for “his time and dedication to fulfil the mission of the centre”, together with Shawi and former programmes manager Ayman Bardawil whose “support was indispensable, especially with the expansion that the centre has seen.”
Keulen expressed sadness over leaving the centre and Qatar, highlighting the centre’s great achievements and stressing the key role played by its local and international staff members who represent an important asset to DCMF.
“Keulen helped increase the presence of the centre locally, regionally and globally,” noted Shawi who also wished him success in his future undertakings.
He added that “the centre is positioned more than ever to play a bigger role given the global context surrounding the current transformations taking place in the Arab world.”
Shawi said that the increasing role of the centre is translated by the host of activities it sponsored and conducted in countries like Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Syria and Tunisia.
In a statement to the press on the sidelines of the ceremony, Alami hailed Keulen’s outstanding work as the former head of DCMF “who along with a dedicated staff was able to take long strides toward achieving the mission of the centre.”
He added that “Keulen drew on his own expertise and the positive work environment at the centre to carry out his duties.”
Alami said that “the centre will stay on the course of achievement and find someone to lead it to higher success.”
Commenting on the limits of media freedom that national policy could impose for security reasons, Alami pointed out that media should be homegrown and should not be imposed by external factors. He added that the centre strives to achieve this goal by disseminating a culture of free media among university students who will be tomorrow’s opinion leaders.
Alami also said that, in the context of free press in Qatar, media should be developed along with education and human rights, expressing his confidence in Qatar’s ability to meet this challenge.
Alami added that DCMF is unique in the Arab world because it does not only monitor and denounce violations of media freedom but also provides support to journalists and conducts advocacy programmes in their favor.
The ceremony was concluded with awards given in honour of Keulen and Bardawil.

Source.DCMF