Abu Dhabi, UAE - Rupert Murdoch urged Arab governments on Tuesday to reject media censorship and open their markets to foreign competition as he opened a high-profile conference aimed at furthering oil-rich Abu Dhabi's ambitions as a cultural hub.

The chief executive of News Corp (NWSA.O), one of the biggest foreign investors in the region's media, called for lighter regulation and said economic incentives were more effective than protectionism. "In the face of an inconvenient story it can be tempting to resort to censorship or civil or criminal laws to try to bury it," he said in the opening keynote speech at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit. "Markets that distort their media end up promoting the very panic and distrust that they had hoped to control," he said.

In November the Times, a News Corp newspaper, was removed from newstands across the United Arab Emirates for a few days after it published a double-page spread showing a graphic of Dubai's ruler sinking under a sea of debt.