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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 February 2000 Issue No. 468
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Profile Travel Books Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Abandon ship
By Salama Ahmed Salama
On hearing the news that a media free-zone is to be created in Egypt, many thought the decision meant that the state was relinquishing its half-century monopoly on information. A free-zone that would include satellite stations, printing presses and offices for news agencies sounded like a complete reversal of the old policy. The state seemed determined to liberalise the information sector, allowing it to attain new levels of freedom, in keeping with the spirit of the times. Today, it is impossible to envisage impeding or suppressing the flow of information; on the contrary, the trend is toward the creation of ever greater spaces for freedom of thought and expression.
The first impression soon proved wrong, however. It became evident that the whole episode was merely a way of attracting investment in Egyptian channels and satellite stations, which have become a burden on the national budget. The invitation, of course, was laced with incentives for Arab and foreign satellite stations to operate from within Egyptian borders, not from offices abroad. The discussions that took place betrayed the fact that, from the very beginning, officials had been thinking of how to restrict these channels' activities once they begin to operate. Concerns related to censorship and repression dominated the decision to establish the free-zone.
Since the project's ultimate aim was simply to encourage investors to place their money in Egypt instead of Nicosia, Rome or London, the media industry here seems destined to stagnate quietly. We will never become full-fledged players, competing with Arab countries whose satellite channels have already established themselves as fora for free political and cultural discussion, attracting huge audiences across the Arab world. The world's top-ranking Arab papers, known as reliable sources of uncensored news and as spaces for opinions from across the spectrum, are not Egyptian. Kings and presidents write in such papers with greater clarity and frankness than they have ever used in their own countries.
The idea of a media free-zone in Egypt was prompted by overwhelming evidence that the media is ridden by insurmountable contradictions and dominated by backwardness and narrow-mindedness. Naturally, the Egyptian audience, a substantial percent of the total Arab audience, is drifting toward the more attractive Arab television channels and newspapers, which are engaged in fierce competition with the international media.
In reaction to the Arab competition, and to avoid the confusing and conflicting accounts often disseminated by the official media, the government has decided to appoint a media spokesman to each ministry. This is indeed an important step in modernising relations between society and the media, and in halting the flow of inaccurate information. The decision, however, has not yet been put into effect.
The Egyptian media system, riddled as it is with shortcomings, does not seem ready to enter the information age, or to achieve its goal of adapting to new information technology. Nor will it be able to do so until some acceptable formula is reached for the privatisation of the state-owned media, its restructuring and its rescue from government control. It seems absurd that the state should take steps to liberate television from government monopoly, and to privatise the banking sector, the railroad, and other vital public facilities, yet still be terrified of relinquishing control over the press. The editors-in-chief of state papers are partly to blame, of course: they continue to enjoy the blissful security provided by the state; the state, for its part, is equally happy with their services. Meanwhile, journalists are routinely imprisoned for publication offences.
Allowing the perpetuation of the status quo will only widen the gap between the Egyptian press and the rest of the world. Unless we think of appropriate means to build a more modern, developed and free information system, we will become little more than a sad anachronism.
