By Saleh Al-Turaiqi
Okaz newspaperIT is considered a crime when a person tries to physically prevent a TV crew from filming on public property. The attack can be considered an attack on individuals, and the TV crew has the right to demand justice and retribution in a civil court hearing.

However, if this TV crew is part of the Ministry of Culture and Information, then this is a far more serious crime that needs swift punishment. This is comparable to a person attacking a government employee when he is on duty. In this case, it is not a case between individuals and there is no private right to be claimed in court because this is a crime against government.

Preventing a government employee from doing his job is a serious offense and amounts to sabotage against society. People taking matters in their own hands should be treated very seriously. Society as a whole will suffer if individuals were allowed to prevent government workers from working.

Sadly, this is not how some in the government understand it to be. According to a spokesman in the Information Ministry, attacking government media employees is not as dangerous as made out to be. He was referring to the man-handling of state media personnel by unruly crowds. He added that the attack was blown out of proportion and such attacks happen from time to time and there was no need to blow things out of proportion.

I am left wondering if the spokesman believes that beating and cursing a government employee is considered routine and acceptable. This brings to mind what the correspondent who was recently attacked in Dammam said to media when she was asked to comment on the attack. She simply replied that she had no comment except to say that being attacked is something that she and her colleagues have got used to.