The Saudi press and the Internet : how Saudi journalists and media decision makers at the Ministry of Culture and Information evaluate censorship in the presence of the Internet as a news and information medium.

The main aim of this study is to explore the opinion of Saudi journalists and media decision makers in the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information towards censorship of the national press in the presence of the Internet. To collect the data for this study, qualitative methods were used. The first method was the observation method, directed at two Saudi daily newspapers, 'Alriyadh and Aleqtisadiah’. A four-week observation was conducted of each paper. The second method was a fact-to-face interview with twenty-one Saudi journalists working for the two newspapers. The final method used in order to collect the required data for this study was face-to-face interviews with eleven decision makers at the Ministry of Culture and Information. The findings of this study indicate that censorship over the national press has been eased compared to three years ago, due to the pressure of multiple factors, which have stimulated the relaxation of censorship. Conversely, other factors play a major role in limiting the easing of censorship over the national press. The Saudi national press and the Ministry of Culture and Information are facing different pressures from two contradictory directions: on the one hand there are factors pressing for the easing of censorship and on the other there are factors pressing for strict censorship.