17 - 23 January 2002
Issue No.569
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 17 - 23 January 2002 Issue No.569 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Fostering understanding
A meeting between a US Congressional delegation and leading Egyptian journalists underscored the need for stronger interaction Aziza Sami attended
The animosity that has at times surfaced in the press in both the US and Egypt following 11 September has become cause for concern among officials on both sides as well as interest groups such as the Arab-American lobby inside the US.
Al-Ahram Al-Iqtisadi's editor-in-chief Essam Rifaat brought together the US delegation, AmCham members and leading journalists from Al-Ahram on Monday photos: Ayman Ibrahim
Despite official assurances that Egypt-US ties remain "strategic," the aftermath of 11 September saw a spate of articles in the US, some by influential columnists such as Thomas Friedman, implying that not only was Egypt refraining from taking a firm stance against terrorism, but that it was actually fostering Islamist tendencies. During the same period press coverage and opinion articles in Egypt have reiterated that what needs to be tackled is what the public perceives as unbalanced policies by the US towards the Middle East, specifically those concerning the Arab- Israeli conflict, nuclear non-proliferation and Iraq. The Egyptian press frequently criticised the US bombing of Afghanistan because of the high toll which it has exacted in civilian casualties.
In spite of the tensions revealed in the press, several initiatives have been undertaken recently to strengthen ties between Egypt and the US. Head of USAID Andrew Natsious is currently in Cairo following the organisation's acceleration in payment to Egypt of economic assistance funds to help the Egyptian economy recover from the negative impact of 11 September. A high-level US Congressional delegation, led by the head of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, Richard Gephardt, visited Cairo at the beginning of the week. The delegation was scheduled to meet, among other government officials, the Grand Imam of Al- Azhar Mohamed Sayed Tantawi. The American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt also invited a 12-member congressional staff delegation to Cairo as part of the initiative to foster understanding between US policy-makers and opinion-makers in Egypt. A luncheon hosted on Monday by Al-Ahram Al-Iqtisadi''s [Economic Al-Ahram] editor-in-chief Essam Rifaat brought together the US delegation, AmCham members Hamed Fahmy and Ahmed Shawqi and leading journalists from Al-Ahram.
Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama attended, as well as Al-Ahram Hebdo's editor-in-chief Mohamed Salmawy and Director of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies Abdel-Moneim Said. US participants in the event included chiefs of staff, policy advisers and legislative assistants to several US representatives. It also included representatives of non- governmental organisations such as the National Council on US- Arab Relations. Their questions revealed concern that the sometimes hostile attitudes in the Egyptian press towards the US might in fact be reflective of official stances, since the major newspapers are state-owned.
Abdel-Moneim Said, giving a brief overview of changes in the Egyptian press towards greater freedom, affirmed that such stances were "not reflective of government opinion."
"Uncensored" and "highly diverse" are accurate descriptions of the Egyptian press, said Said, contrasting the county's newspapers with the rigorously censored television and radio. However, he underscored the need to distinguish between editorials reflecting newspaper policy, as opposed to opinion articles and columns, where the writers, often highly critical of government policy, are "free to express their own point of view." Thus following 11 September, the Egyptian press carried a wide array of views, some of which were strongly in favour of the US war against terror, and others criticising it.
Howard Diamond, senior assistant at the office of Representative Gary Ackerman, asked if the government was considering divesting itself of the major newspapers to enhance their competitivity. Said responded, "The political elite is still grappling with the problem, although there is a consensus that the press should be liberalised."
Salama Ahmed Salama, however, predicted that economic realities will speedily impose themselves, leading to a total liberalisation of the press within five years. "The state cannot go on bearing the financial burden of supporting newspapers, and so, I predict that newspapers will be privatised within that period," he said.
Valerie Schultz, a professional staff member with the US-based Bannerman and Associates, said she believed that there is "need for a stronger Arab presence inside the US media." Salmawy responded that though the idea is "commendable, we have not mastered its techniques. Some of the views in the US press about the Middle East have proceeded not from ignorance, but from bias. There is a need for the press in the US not to be influenced by internal conditions such as elections making them the prism by which they view the outside world. The issue is not to manipulate the media, but for a more balanced measure of the real issues at stake."
During the meeting, Hamed Fahmy announced that Cairo University will soon establish a Centre for American Studies, with the aim of promoting a deeper understanding between Egypt and the US.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page