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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 Apr. - 5 May 1999 Issue No. 427
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Focus Special Travel Sports People Features Living Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The press'in between'
By Shaden Shehab
As the Egyptian press stands on the threshold of the 21st century, it could be moving backwards if progress is not made soon. That was one of the assessments made at a seminar held at the Ramatan Cultural Centre. The seminar, held last week at the Taha Hussein Museum, hosted as speaker Salama Ahmed Salama, prominent columnist and managing editor of Al-Ahram, Ibrahim El-Mo'allem, chairman of the board of directors of Al-Shorouk publishing house, and Helmi El-Touni, painter and layout designer.
Before the debate began, blind twins sang and played the oud (lute) and the organ, setting the stage for a relaxed atmosphere and reminding about 100 attendants of Taha Hussein, one of Egypt's top and most prolific writers, who was blind.
Salama took the floor to argue that the next five years will be crucial for the Egyptian press because they "will determine if we will pass through the bottleneck". He explained that during this period, the Egyptian press "will either be qualified to meet the challenges of the 21st century or continue moving in a vicious circle, facing the same problems and having a vague comprehension of how the press should be."
But Salama said that he is optimistic. "Optimism is the fuel that pushes us to continue. We have the potential to improve, but what we need is a strong political will and journalistic professionalism," he said.
Salama said at present "the press is free, but not completely free; it is neither independent nor strictly governmental; it does not shape public opinion, but neither is it a press release; we are in between." He warned that unless the press develops, people will turn away from it, favouring satellite television, "where there are greater freedoms. If we do not advance forward, we will go backwards and satellite television will be the replacement."
Salama recommended that political reform should go hand-in-hand with economic reform during the next five years. Specifically, he said, there should be a rotation of power between the various political parties, freedom of establishing newspapers, a modification of some provisions of the press law, the abolition of the Supreme Press Council and the enforcement of the journalistic code of ethics without discrimination. Salama argued that the press is an "expression of what goes on in society. As much as there is political, economic, cultural and educational progress, there will also be progress in the press."
He called for the privatisation of newspapers in order to promote competition and upgrade press standards. Good newspapers will survive and the others will vanish. Privatisation will make newspapers act as watchdogs, publishing facts without raising hackles, provided there is no censorship of any kind, he said.
Ibrahim El-Mo'allem spoke about his experience in obtaining a licence for the magazine Books and Viewpoints. El-Mo'allem is the magazine's publisher and head of the board of directors; Salama is the chief editor and Helmi El-Touni is the layout designer. Renowned political writer Mohamed Hassanein Heikal is among the distinguished contributors to the magazine.
El-Mo'allem said it took 14 months to obtain the licence. "But we were determined to have an Egyptian licence. We could have easily printed in Cyprus or Beirut, but we wanted the magazine to be purely Egyptian," he asserted.
El-Touni said the magazine was established to "rehabilitate" the Egyptian press, arguing that the press is progressing technologically but not in content. "Now, we can publish colour photos, but we still do not know when to use colour and when not to," remarked El-Touni.
