Ok lots of stuff took in Egypt this week , aside from Sinai and its implications , aside from Morsi’s and his decisions ; the new heads of the famous State owned newspapers appointed by Shura council on Wednesday made it hard for the revolution to reach for the famous Press street in Cairo after all these months !!
The Shura council “with Islamist majority led by MB’s
Freedom and Justice party” chose the new editors of chief of publications issued by the state owned publishing corporations in Egypt. We are speaking here about 10s of publications from daily and weekly newspapers as well weekly and monthly magazines. Most of these publishing corporations suffer from financial and managerial corruption after decades of being controlled by the police state.
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purging the media was a demand |
These appointments were decided based on a mechanism that was rejected for months by journalists whether Pro-Revolutionaries or Non Revolutionaries.The mechanism was also rejected by the members of journalists syndicate. I will not waste your time and mine in explaining what the mechanism is but I will tell you that the Shura council member who heads the panel to choose the chiefs in editor is actually a person who has not worked in journalism or media !!
That mechanism adopted by Shura Council does not liberate the state owned press from the state’s control as we wish and want in the post Revolution Egypt , in fact now the State owned press will be controlled by the majority party whatever this party is accordingly.
Now despite all the people expected that the Shura council would choose MB to head the state owned newspapers , the heads of the major newspapers , the big three “Al Ahram , Al Akhbar and Al Gomhouria” to be accurate. But surprisingly they choose at least for Al Ahram and Gomhouria , the MB chose big Felol names aka former regime supporters. I do not know what kind of media purging is that !!!
Abdel Nasser Salamah , Al Ahram Daily newspaper’s new editor in Chief is a big Anti-#Jan25 Revolution outspoken journalist who has been attacking the revolution and describing the protesters as agents of foreign countries !! In early February 2011
he spoke about foreign agents in Tahrir square despite he believed that the majority in Tahrir square from the good youth that seek better political life !!
Of course after ousting Mubarak , the man shifted his loyalty to SCAF and continued to attack the protesters who protested against the council throughout 2011. It is enough to say that Salama used to appear in Tawfik Okasha´s TV show as constant guest and commentator !!
ِAl Ahram´s journalists are angry from his appointment and some of them actually began to protest against him. A group of journalists already started
to organize silent protesting stands outside his office in the famous Press corporation on Thursday.
The Egyptian Christians are also angry from his appointment as they can not forget his column during
Al Omraneya clashes in 2010 where
he attacked them and the church forcing Al Ahram to publish an official appology in very rare occasion before the revolution !!
The editor in chief of Al Gomhouria is
Gamal Abdel Rahim whose name is well known among human rights activists and bloggers since 2009. Mr. Abdel Rahim is associated with his calls against Baha’is in Egypt , no one can forget how he praised the people in Sharoniya village in Sohag after burning the houses of Baha’is in the small village. Already not less than 6 human rights organizations
filed a complain against him at the Public prosecutor office during that time accusing him of inciting attack against Baha'is
As a member of the journalists syndicate’s council in 2009 , Abdel Rahim continued his crusade against the Baha’is and stopped a conference for religious freedom at the Syndicate by force !! I think Abdel Rahim is still a member in syndicate’s council.
Now among journalists Abdel Rahim is well known for his cooperation with the State security !! Not a big surprise.
Any how it seems that Abdel Rahim and Salama enjoy too much religious tolerance !!
I could not find anything related to the new editor in Chief of Al Akhbar newspaper “Mohamed Hassan El Bana” , in fact no one knows anything about him when I checked. I do not why he was chosen when Al Akhbar newspaper. Egyptian tweeps say sarcastically that Mohamed Hassan El Bana was chosen because of his name “Hassan El Bana” which is identical to the late founder of MB’s name, the famous Hassan El Bana. I do not know if he is related to him or not. The only thing I know about him that he is from the children of Akhbar Al Youm.
Interestingly enough columnist and writer Abla El Rowainy "Former editor in chief of Akhbar Literature" found out that her Op-ed
in Akhbar newpspaper about the Press and the new appointment was alerted and a sentence condemning what she believes an attempt of Muslim brotherhood to control press was removed without her knowledge or approval.
Despite her success as an editor in chief of that important newspaper specialized in literature and arts , El Rowainy is dismissed from her position and journalist Magdy Afifi was appointed as editor in chief of chief to Akhbar Literature. Afifi was the
deputy editor in chief of Akhbar Al Youm in time of Mubarak which means was granted the approval of state security.
As time changes , it was not a big change to find Afifi
praising Sheikh Safwat Hegazy describing him as a revolutionary icon !!I can not deny
Hegazy´s role in the early 18 days of revolution in Tahrir square but I can not forget how he attacked later the revolution´s youth and protesters won the majority in the parliament.
" Not even real majority !"
Needless to say she does not like or support Muslim brotherhood yet she is good in her position !! The intellectuals believe that Afifi's appointment is like a return to the dark ages. BY the way
Afifi used to work in Oman and he seems to be not that popular among the journalists there.
The new head of Akhbar Al Youm is an Islamist , Soliman El Qenawy used to head a publication issued by Al Azhar called “Al Azhar voice”
Journalists and observers speak about the Muslim brotherhood’s control , well aside from Akhbar Al Youm newspaper I can not see anyone except the old regime remnants who used to work with State security.
On Tuesday columnists and journalists in state owned and independent as well partisan papers decided to object the appointments by leaving their columns blank. On Thursday several columnists in Al Masry Al Youm , Al Watan and Youm 7 have left their column blank like Magdy El Gald, Amr Hamzawy , Moatez Abdel Fatah and Mohamd Salmaway.
Now journalists accuse the Muslim brotherhood of taking over the press in Egypt despite it seems that they did not choose MB journalists to head major papers , still they chose men who are ready to sell their mamas for authority whoever the president is.
The state owned press corporations were used as a tool to control the media and manipulate the public awareness since 1960s and the nationalization policies, if you are true revolutionary or even true reformist who believes in gradual changes ; setting these corporations free should be from priorities if you want true democracy. Other than that you do not want democracy but just want to take over power using democracy.
Now at least 5 of the major state owned press corporations were privately owned and nationalised in 1960s to suffer from ups and downs reaching to the threat of bankruptcy especially in the decline of the printed press.
Some say that we should privatise these corporations and I totally disagree with that suggestion because we are replacing the State controlled media with the money controlled media. There is another solution several journalists working in these corporations : They own these corporations like some sort of
worker cooperative ownership.
There is another suggestion is to turn these state owned corporations in to a
semi-autonomous public service corporations like the BBC. I support this suggestion.
Of course as someone who knows the history of state owned press corporations , I feel sad because we have treasures and talents that need to be free to the pubic and not owned by the state or the regime or the ruling party but by the public.