19 - 25 April 2001
Issue No.530
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 April 2001 Issue No.530 |
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Out with the old
A new cabinet mandate halting the extension of state employees' terms beyond retirement age has greased the wheels of change at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union. Hanan Sabra chases the shakeup
Life at the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) got a jolt of electricity, following a recent cabinet announcement that no state employee can extend his or her term of service beyond the retirement age of 60. Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif has used the decision as the impetus for a slew of new appointments at the ERTU, most notably, the replacement of Abdel-Rahman Hafez, who has reached retirement age, as head of the ERTU.
Hamed Ragab Batisha Abul-Naga
Tapped to step into the top job is Hassan Hamed, who has led the Nile Thematic Channels for the last four years. Hamed, who was the first head of the Nile TV Channel when it was established in 1993, will take over the post 24 April. Hafez will stay on as chairman of the board of the Media Production City Company and will also remain head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Festival.
Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Hamed said that his primary goal is to bring the ERTU up to speed technologically. He spoke of renovating studios and organising workshops to train radio and television employees in Internet and satellite technology. "My aim is to establish state-of-the-art studios -- computerised studios -- to serve the various programmes, especially the entertainment programmes, which lack a competitive edge with their Arab and foreign satellite counterparts," Hamed said.
He may have grand plans, but his time is limited. Hamed will reach the retirement age in December 2002, leaving him just over a year and a half to tackle the problems facing the ERTU. Topping the list of woes is a recurrent cash crisis that often keeps employees from being paid on time and freshening up the union's programming with new directors and announcers. During his time as the head of the Nile Thematic Channels, Hamed succeeded in lifting the ceiling on salaries -- a stumbling block for keeping staff motivated -- and it is expected that he will try to do the same with the entire union. In some cases, the maximum remuneration for directors who produce some 10 programmes can be in the area of LE100. Hamed went as far as to promise a complete overhaul of the administrative system of the union.
The shakeup also rustled out Soheir El-Atribi, head of Television Sector, and Hamdi El-Konaissi, head of the Egyptian Radio. The buzz had been around Zeinab Swidan, incumbent head of Channel 1, and Mounira Kafafi, deputy head of the Television Sector, to replace El-Atribi, but the information minister surprised pundits with the appointment of Mervat Ragab for the top Television post. Ragab worked earlier as the head of the Central Department for International Relations in the ERTU and was also an English news announcer on Channel 2. She told the press that she will act to develop working conditions in the Television Sector so as to improve the production quality. One salient problem is the stiflingly small budgets allotted for the production of programmes. Ragab says she will set out to re-evaluate programmes and redistribute jobs among people working in the sector.
A few weeks earlier, El-Sherif had chosen Omar Batisha to take over as head of the Egyptian Radio. Former head El-Konaissi will be kept as a member of the ERTU board. Batisha's first decision was to put a ceiling on remuneration for the work of retired announcers, which will ultimately free up funds for new programmes and allow for an infusion of young blood. He also decided to revive the Egyptian Radio orchestra, which was disbanded after the death of conductor Ahmed Fouad Hassan. Batisha has said that he is keen to redefine the "character" of each radio service so that "each maintains its own personality" and doesn't "overlap" with other services. The real task facing Batisha, however, is revamping the studios, which are in poor condition, and introducing updated facilities.
Nagwa Abul-Naga, former head of Youth and Sports radio service has been appointed the new head of the Thematic Channels Sector, with Tahany Halawa as her deputy. The latter will keep her job as head of the Educational Channels. Abul-Naga says that her plans are still in the works. "I recognise the importance of the Nile Thematic Channels, and will work on making them competitive with other satellite channels," she told the Weekly. The most important challenges facing Abul-Naga mirror those of Batisha at the Radio: honing down the "personalities" of channels. She is also expected to balance the production budgets for all the channels, as the currently skewed budgets have affected the quality of production. Abul-Naga's successor at the Youth and Sports radio station has yet to be named.
More changes are expected in the near future, including a new head at Channel 2 and a replacement for Sanaa Mansour, who runs the Egyptian Satellites Sector and will reach retirement age on 12 May.
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