A lasting legacy

Al-Ahram Weekly pays special tribute to the founding Editor-in-Chief Hosny Guindy on the occasion of the second anniversary of his departure

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For close to half a century now I have had the good fortune to meet and work with a host of senior journalists, both Egyptian and foreign. I have worked under some legendary chief editors, including Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Ihsan Abdel-Quddous, Ahmed Bahaaeddin, Ali El-Gammal and Ibrahim Nafie. Each had his own method, though they shared the strategic sense of a field marshal, the understanding of pitch of an orchestra maestro and the diligence of a shopkeeper. They came to work before we arrived and left only when the paper had gone to press.

I was close to Hosny Guindy, the man who started Al-Ahram Weekly. He would often share his insights. Do you know what the real job of a chief editor is, he once asked me. He provided his own answer. The editor-in-chief's job, he said, is to provide the right atmosphere for journalists to get the news on time and in the easiest manner.

And that is what he did. Hosny was keen to provide his journalists with the best possible working conditions, from telephones to vehicles to computers, so they could get to the story fast and report it well.

I don't keep an eye on the writers, he would say. The writers keep an eye on themselves. Journalism is not something you can bluff. A journalist cannot pretend to be working when he's not.

There are no short cuts in journalism, no easy tricks. Hosny put a team together and set about keeping it motivated. He coached, helped and generally inspired 24 hours a day. The excellent work you still see on this publication is his legacy.

By Samir Sobhi