UAE lawmakers have pulled the National Media Council (NMC) for not mitigating its dependence on the expatriates who are dominating over local Emiratis in terms of jobs in the local media industry.

The Federal National Council (FNC), as reported by Gulf News, said that the country's media watchdog failed to achieve its objectives for promoting the cultural identity of the UAE by recruiting more Emiratis.

Amal al-Qubaisi, one of the council members, advocated the need of imposing quotas on media outlets. He said that NMC should come up with a suitable time frame for ensuring jobs for local people in different departments.

Qubaisi expressed, "Emirati broadcasters account for only 17.8 percent of the total staff of radio and TV (stations), while the percentage is as low as 10 percent in the press." He asked for the need of coordination between the media outlets and universities besides enhancing professional training programs for local people.

UAE is hugely dependent over foreign workers for meeting its professional needs. The nation is a home of a large number of foreigners which accounts for more than 70 per cent of the total population of the country.