Media control
Ahmed Kotb reports on the decision to resurrect the Ministry of Information
After abolishing the Ministry of Information more than three months ago a new minister of information -- Osama Heikal, the editor in chief of the Wafd Party newspaper -- has been sworn in in front of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council.
Heikal was quoted in several media outlets as saying that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf -- who abolished the post in March -- had asked him to "restructure the ministry".
"The decision to restore the ministry is very wise," says media expert Hassan Ali.
Media institutions -- including the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) and State Information Service (SIS)-- are increasingly in trouble and it will take a cabinet level official to solve their problems, argues Ali.
The ERTU lacks the staff to produce better programming. It is but one of the problems, says Ali, that the new minister must tackle.
"A member of the cabinet will be able to consult with other ministers and the military council and develop policies that will restructure the sector and redistribute wages."
Government-owned news organisations, adds Ali, also need attention. They are making major losses and are a heavy burden on the Ministry of Finance.
Inas Abu Youssef, associate professor of journalism at Cairo University, believes it was a mistake to abolish the ministry in the absence of any other organisation to assume its responsibilities. Early plans, she says, to establish a national media council to oversee the necessary restructuring, never got off the ground.
Though Abu Youssef has no qualms about the ministry in principle, she is concerned about the appointment of Heikal.
"The minister should have been drawn from the ranks of the ERTU," she says, "or at least have experience in managing a large organisation.
Concerns have been raised that resurrecting the ministry is an attempt to curb freedom of expression. Not so, says Ali, who believes that once the restructuring of government-owned media institutions is in place the ministry's role will be redundant.
"The Ministry of Information will not be around for long and we must prepare for its absence," says Ali.
Ali is himself setting up a centre to monitor harmful media content.
"It is being established with the help of many media moguls because without a media control body chaos is inevitable," he said.
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