Obituary:
A journalist's journalist
Salah Hilal (1927--2003)
Salah Hilal
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Last Sunday, Egyptian journalism lost one of its most dedicated and influential practitioners, a man veteran journalists said represented one of the last vestiges of the "beautiful generations" of yore.
Salah Hilal was a consultant to both the editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram newspaper as well as the economic daily, Al-Alam Al-Yom. Born in Koum Al- Nour in the governorate of Dakahliya on 24 December 1927, he died at the age of 75.
Hilal majored in journalism at the American University in Cairo in the 1940s. While still a student, he also worked as a journalist at Rose El-Youssef magazine, and soon became the magazine's arts editor, tackling subjects as diverse as cinema and society, teenage love affairs, and "the girl next door".
After graduation, he was ready to invade more serious journalistic territory. Hilal began working at Akhbar Al-Yom, as one of 15 new interns. "We translated parts of Time magazine for Mohamed Hassanein Heikal [the soon-to-be famous journalist who was working at that paper at the time]. When we were done we were sent off to ministers' and businessmen's offices, artists' studios and hotels, where we collected information and photographs, which is how Heikal managed to build a comprehensive archive, while training us to contact sources and collect data at the same time," Hilal had told Al-Ahram Weekly in a previous interview.
At one point, the paper's co-founder and editor-in-chief Mustafa Amin brought everyone into his office -- except for Hilal, Abdel-Salam Dawoud and Ahmed Zein. "We thought he'd chosen the others to stay on, and by the time they came out, we were fully expecting to be dismissed. In fact it was the other way round." Twelve of the interns were relieved of their duties, while Hilal's career had effectively begun.
He covered the famous 25 January 1952 Cairo fire, writing the only article of its kind that -- almost miraculously -- escaped the censors and appeared in its entirety, complete with gory pictures chosen by Hilal.
Exactly 45 days before the July 1952 Revolution, the first issue of Akhbar Al-Yom's new daily -- Al-Akhbar -- hit the newsstands. Hilal took full advantage of this unique historical moment, covering the skirmishes between the British occupying force and the Egyptian police in Ismailia. Via Amin, Hilal met and befriended Salah Salem, one of the Free Officers, and followed him "like a shadow" for months.
A few years later, Hilal moved over to Akher Sa'a, becoming the magazine's deputy editor. Here again, he worked alongside the legendary Heikal, who was its editor-in-chief. Heikal's confidence in Hilal led him to nominate him for the editor's job when Heikal himself moved over to Al-Ahram in 1957.
By October 1959, Hilal had also joined Al-Ahram, driving to work every morning in his ancient, cherished Chevrolet -- yellow until he painted it gray. Room 418 was to become his home, sometimes literally, for years and years to come. At Al-Ahram, he made his mark, travelling from Japan to India via Europe and beyond. Always busy, always on assignment, he nonetheless became a mentor to generations of younger journalists. His modest appearance, unassuming wit, an iron discipline balanced by a fun-loving flair for life, as well as his ability to quickly sort out problems, established him as one of the institution's most popular figures.
Hilal is remembered as a mentor to renowned journalists like Makram Mohamed Ahmed, Mohamed Zayed, and Abdel-Wahab Mutawi', as well as former heads of the Press Syndicate, chief, managing and deputy editors, whether from Al-Ahram or elsewhere.
He will always be remembered for the Ramadan gatherings he held, bringing together a large group of journalists around an Iftar table in Al-Hussein.
Ibrahim Nafie, Al-Ahram's chairman of the board and editor-in-chief, remembers walking into the central desk and seeing Hilal alone in the company of a piece of paper, a ruler and a pen, "organising the next day's reporting, for which he had already given clear instructions. Everything he touched," Nafie testifies, "turned to art." For that, Hilal will never be forgotten.
By Reem Nafie
