A trade association representing more than 80 media companies has voiced its support for Al Jazeera amid a Saudi-led campaign to have the network shut down, aljazeera.com reports.
In a statement released recently, Digital Content Next joined a host of media outlets and organisations that have announced their support for Al Jazeera against calls for its closure.
"It is vital we value and protect the independence of media organisations and journalists around the world. Any effort to silence journalists or use news organisations as a bargaining chip is an affront to freedom," the statement said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, the New York Times editorial board and The Guardian have all condemned the efforts to pressure Qatar into shutting down Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera has described the Saudi-led campaign as "nothing but an attempt to silence the freedom of expression in the region and to suppress people’s right to information and the right to be heard".
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed sanctions on the country on June 5.
After more than two weeks, the four Arab countries issued a 13-point demand list in exchange for the end of the anti-Qatar measures.
Associated Press and Reuters news agencies reported they obtained the list from unnamed officials from one of the countries involved in isolating Qatar.
The demands included the closure of news outlets such as Arabi21, Rassd, Al Araby Al Jadeed, Mekameleen and Middle East Eye.
"We are really worried about the implication and consequences of such requirements if they will ever be implemented," said Alexandra El Khazen, head of the Middle East and North Africa desk at Reporters Without Borders, a non-profit organisation promoting press freedom.
Speaking to Al Jazeera last week from Paris, she said: "We are against any kind of censorship and measures that could threaten the diversity in the Arab media landscape and pluralism, for instance."
The acting managing director of Al Jazeera's English-language service, Giles Trendle, also denounced demands by the Arab states to shut down the network as an attempt to suppress free expression.
HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani has said Al Jazeera Media Network is an "internal affair" and there will be no discussion about the fate of the Doha-based broadcaster during the diplomatic crisis.
