7 - 13 February 2002
Issue No.572
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 7 - 13 February 2002 Issue No.572 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Reality check
There are many issues, domestic and international, to interest the concerned citizen these days. None inspires the slightest joy, however. Some seem beyond resolution; others seem to have straightforward solutions, to which we hold the keys, but for some reason we are not doing what is necessary. All our efforts seem to be centred on diagnosing the illness, none on finding a cure.
The newspapers, for example, are full of criticism of the government and its economic policies. Yet you will look in vain for an attempt to solve the problem of the exchange rate. The press should certainly identify problems, but must also seek to prescribe a way out of the quandaries it reveals.
Identifying the illness without finding the cure can only result in disappointment, if not despair. It thus prevents ordinary citizens from acting at a time when we desperately need motivation to confront the difficulties at hand. How can you call for solidarity when you have disappointed and disillusioned people?
There are many bright sides to our life. But the media the world over seem to find excitement only in catastrophes and disasters: happy events are not newsworthy. And we have become so accustomed to distress that something positive, rather than something negative, is now more likely to make the news.
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.
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