Press shuffle

By Shaden Shehab

Mohamed Abdel-Moneim, Samir Ragab, Galal Eissa

Osama Saraya and Mohamed Salmawy

The Shura Council, whose responsibilities include supervising the national press, has announced a series of changes in the top editorial positions of several newspapers and magazines, as well as the Middle East News Agency (MENA). The most significant changes, announced Thursday, were the appointment of Mohamed Abdel-Moneim as board chairman and chief editor of the weekly magazine Rose El-Youssef, replacing Mahmoud El-Tohami, and the appointment of Mahfouz El-Ansari as MENA's board chairman and editor-in-chief, replacing Mustafa Naguib.

Both El-Tohami and Naguib were not assigned new positions.

In an earlier, but limited reshuffle, Adel Hammouda, deputy chief editor of Rose El-Youssef, was re-assigned to the Al-Ahram newspaper.

Abdel-Moneim, 61, began his career as a news editor on the Foreign Desk of Al-Ahram in 1968. He became the newspaper's military correspondent and took an active part in the news coverage of the 1973 October war. He later became assistant chief editor, deputy chief editor and then chief editor of Al-Difaa (Defence), a magazine specialising in military affairs and published by Al-Ahram. From 1989 until 1994, he served as President Hosni Mubarak's press secretary. He later returned to Al-Ahram as managing editor.

Abdel-Moneim's re-assignment to Rose El-Youssef took journalists by surprise. Some, suggesting that Abdel-Moneim hailed from a very different school of journalism than that represented by Rose El-Youssef, viewed the move as an attempt to "reign in" the weekly magazine. Under its former chief editor, Rose El-Youssef seemed to pin its popularity on highlighting cases of corruption of government officials and dealing openly, and some would say sensationally, with "taboo" subjects such as sex and religion.

However, Abdel-Moneim told Al-Ahram Weekly that he does not plan to alter the magazine's character. Rose El-Youssef, he said, "is an old magazine with a special identity and I am a professional journalist, not an amateur. Therefore, I will not try to change its identity since this would be an act of suicide that could only lead to failure."

Abdel-Moneim added that he will improve "only the quality and strengthen its positive aspects." Asked whether the magazine will stop publishing stories on sex and Copts, Abdel-Moneim responded: "I will not resort to anything that goes against society's ethics. There will be no sensational stories or articles that are not based on actual fact."

Abdel-Moneim expressed confidence that the magazine's circulation "will increase and that it will remain, as it has always been, a respectable magazine."

The magazine's latest issue, which hit the newsstands last Sunday, was subdued compared to previous issues. Instead of the usual sex story, there was an article on new technology that could decide a baby's gender before conception. There was also the usual "Coptic" story, but it dealt with a minor conflict between a bishop and a priest in southern Egypt.

El-Ansari, who began his career as a reporter on Arab affairs for MENA, was chief editor of Al-Gomhouria newspaper, published by Al-Tahrir publishing house. Currently abroad, El-Ansari could not be reached for comment on his appointment.

Other appointments made by the Shura Council:
-- Galal Eissa, board chairman of Dar El-Shaab and chief editor of Rai El-Shaab;
-- Samir Ragab, board chairman of Dar El-Tahrir and chief editor of Al-Gomhouria;
-- Mahmoud Salah, chief editor of Akher Sa'a magazine;
-- Mohamed Salmawi, chief editor of the French-language Al-Ahram Hebdo;
-- Osama Saraya, chief editor of Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine;
-- Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Barakat, chief editor of Akhbar El-Hawadeth;
-- Amal Osman, chief editor of Akhbar El-Nogoom;
-- Suleiman Qenawi, chief editor of Akhbar El-Sayyarat;
-- Mou'eness Zoheiri, chief editor of the children's magazine El-Bolbol;
-- Mohamed El-Hanafi Foda, chief editor of El-Massa'a;
-- Mohamed Noureddin, chief editor of Horreyati magazine;
-- Gamal Ahmed, chief editor of Al-Kora Wal-Mala'eb sports magazine;
-- Salama Abdel-Fattah, board chairman of Dar El-Ta'awon and chief editor of El-Siyassi El-Mesri.

In another development, Giza Governor Maher El-Guindi dropped the libel charges he had brought against renowned columnist Mahmoud El-Saadani. A Press Syndicate investigative committee had concluded that El-Saadani did not breach the journalists' code of ethics. A report by the committee, sent to El-Guindi, said that El-Saadani had not exceeded the limits of permissible criticism.

In a third development, a Cairo court turned down a prosecutor's appeal requesting a stay of execution of prison sentences passed against three journalists until the Court of Cassation reaches a final decision. Acting on the Press Syndicate's request, the prosecutor had requested the suspension of a one-year jail sentence passed against Magdi Hussein, chief editor of Al-Shaab, mouthpiece of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party, and its cartoonist Mohamed Hilal, as well as a six-month sentence passed against Gamal Fahmi, managing editor of the weekly newspaper Al-Destour, now closed.

Hussein and Hilal were found guilty of slandering Alaa El-Alfi, son of former Interior Minister Hassan El-Alfi. Fahmi was found guilty of slandering writer Tharwat Abaza.