Media Monitor Egypt - 07

General Developments in the Media in Egypt

(Exceptional Report from 30th June to 31st August 2013)

Al Sawt Al Hurr Arab Network for Media Support www.asahnetwork.org

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(30th June to 31st August 2013)
Preface The Research Section of al Sawt al Hurr, the Arab network for media support, is producing bi-monthly Media Monitors. These reports describe developments in the Egyptian media, e.g. the emergence or disappearance of media outlets, e.g. satellite channels, newspapers, news websites and other initiatives. Each edition also covers information on the environment in which media in Egypt operate, e.g. the legal, financial, social and political developments that affect dynamism, quality and diversity of the media landscape. With these reports al Sawt al Hurr aims to provide media workers, researchers, academics and whoever else is interested in the field of media, with a systematic description and analysis of the rapid developments that take place in of the Egyptian media scene.

General Developments
The first part provides the monitoring results on the latest developments, presented to readers with an interest in and some minimal knowledge of the Egyptian media landscape.

Research team Eman Kheir Petrus Schothorst Media developments English Editor

Kindly send your reactions, suggestions, etc. to info@asahnetwork.org

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General Developments in the Media in Egypt

(Exceptional Report from 30th June to 31st August 2013)

General Developments in the Media in Egypt July - August 2013

In response to the events that took place in Egypt between late June and the end of August 2013, a special edition of the Media Monitor has been prepared. This edition of the Media Monitor only comprises the first of its two parts, monitoring the latest developments in the media landscape in Egypt. This report is produced by al Sawt al Hurr (The Arab Network for Media Support) and is one of the series produced by al Sawt al Hurr to provide media professionals, researchers, journalists and anyone who is interested in the Egyptian media with complete monitoring and analysis of significant developments.

1. Developments in the media in Egypt in general

The main event covered by this report is the change in the political scene in Egypt and the deposing of former president Mohamed Morsi after huge demonstrations all over Egypt; Reuters said that the number of demonstrators on 3 July 2013 reached 29 million. The President of the Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, was appointed as interim president, and suspended the constitution. Seven media professionals died during the period of this report, in addition to several journalists being injured by live ammunition or physical assaults. Two of the dead are non-Egyptians, and five are Egyptians. This number represents the biggest number of deaths in the history of the Egyptian press, as between 1992 and 2013 only four journalists died in the line of duty. Five religious channels were closed on 3 July 2013, directly after the statement delivered by the armed forces regarding deposing Mohamed Morsi. According to the security services, these channels were inciting violence against the demonstrators and encouraging the pro- and againstMorsi factions to fight. (See the section on satellite channels for more details. Doria Sharef Eldeen was appointed as Minister of Information. She is the first woman to have this role, and the first minister to have come from within Maspero. The interim president Adly Mansour issued a decree to form the Committee of Fifty Members in order to amend the constitution of 2012, which is known by some people as the constitution of the Muslim Brotherhood.

2. Newspapers
New developments Almasryoon, a newspaper with an Islamist orientation, changed from daily to weekly; it is unclear if this is for financial or political reasons. Al Rahma and al Nour Islamist newspapers stopped their publication for three weeks in August 2013, though they are now publishing again.

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Editorial problems Abdulnasser Salam, the editor-in-chief of state-owned al Ahram assaulted Sahar Abdulrahman, the editorial director of al Ahram by beating and libel. The public prosecution is investigating this case. Reactions of international media organisations The American based International Committee for Protecting Journalists (ICPJ) issued its annual report in Egypt, which stated that press freedom is under threat due to internal divisions. The reports recommendations to the official Egyptian media, Egyptian political parties and the international community, included stopping censorship, stopping any attempts to involve the government in developing charters of journalistic ethics, abolishing the punishment of imprisonment for press-related violations, ending the polarization of the Egyptian media, respecting the freedom of the press, and speaking out against violations of press freedom. The al Arabia Institute; issued a report on the media and media workers under the Muslim Brotherhood. The report confirmed difficulty of identifying accurate numbers of infringements on freedom of expression and violation cases accurately. The BBC issued a report on the challenges of Egyptian media after June 30 2013. The report discusses the medias role in reflecting and perpetuating the severe political divisions within Egypt after the deposition of Mohamed Morsi. Engy Ghannam, of the BBCs Cairo office, commented that official and private media supported the army, with some channels broadcasting the slogan with the army against terrorism!. No voices in support of the Muslim Brotherhood were heard on these channels following June 30. Assaults on the press institutions and media professionals Disclaimer: due to the difficulties in obtaining comprehensive and accurate information about recent events, it cannot be guaranteed that this section includes mention of every assault on a media professional during this period. Assaults on media professionals working for satellite channels are also discussed in that section. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that one journalist was killed and seven were wounded during events on 28, 29 and 30 June relating to the first anniversary of Mohamed Morsis installation as president. The fatality was Salah El-Din Hassan, a reporter for al Shab Masr, who was covering night protests in Port Said on 28 June when he was killed by a homemade bomb that an unidentified person threw at protesters. Mohamed Heeza, a journalist working for Welad al Balad media foundation, was kidnapped and tortured during demonstrations on 26 June 2013 in Mansoura, Dakahlia Governorate, in which more than 200 were injured. After being held for about seven hours, tortured with electric shocks and questioned about his colleagues at Welad al Balad, which is critical of the Muslim Brotherhood, Heeza was finally left at a street in Mansoura. Doctors who examined him confirmed that electric shocks and bruises had been administered to various parts of his body. He said he was also robbed of personal effects. Ahmed Assem El-Senosi, who worked for Hurriya wa Adela, died on 8 July 2013 while covering clashes between Morsi supporters and national security forces near the National Guard headquarters. Abeer Al-Saady, deputy chairperson of the Egyptian Journalism Syndicate, said to CPJ that the syndicate would grant Ahmed Assem El-Senosi honorary membership and would
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provide a pension for his family. On Sunday June 30, 2013, al Watan photographer Omar Al-Zohairy had to be hospitalized after unidentified individuals attacked him near Tahrir Square and stole his equipment. During the first half of July 2013, two journalists and a student were killed while documenting demonstrations and the clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents. Nada Khouwali, an editor with the newspaper al Shuruq, took out her camera when she saw clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents while on her way home. She was immediately attacked by armed young men, who threw her to the ground and accused her of being a Muslim Brotherhood supporter. Mick Deane, a British Sky News cameraman, and Habiba Abdulaziz, a photographer with Gulf News, died covering the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in on 14 August 2013. Journalist Ahmed Abdel Gawad of the state-owned Akhbar al Youm publishing house and the director of state-owned Nile News and photographer Mosab al Shamy of Rassd website were killed on the same day. Reporters of al Watan and al Masry al-Youm and a photographer of Reuters were injured by live ammunition while covering events in Aswan on 16 August. The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, AFTE, reported 12 assaults on journalists on 16, 17 and 18 August. These included an attack on a journalist from al Masaa in Ramses Square, and the shooting of Mohamed Ibrahim, journalist from al Badil, also in Ramses Square. AFTE also reported the detention of two Canadian filmmakers, John Greyson and Tarek Loubani. Tamer Abdelrauf, the manager of the al Ahram office in Beheira Governorate was shot and killed by security forces when driving at speed through a military checkpoint after curfew on August 19.

3. Multi-media trends
According to Alexa, the website of privately owned daily newspaper Youm7 topped the list of the 50 most visited websites in Egypt, followed by the websites of al Watan, al Masry al Youm, al Ahram, al Fagr, al Balad, al Shuruq and al Wafd. The list includes only one state-owned website (al Ahram) and one party affiliated newspaper (al Wafd). New trends and developments al Masry al Youm introduced a new service whereby people can hear the news by calling 5540. Linking websites Some websites have begun mutual cooperation initiatives, which have helped them to spread quickly. For example, al Shuruq news website has allocated an area of its site to the independent site akhbar.net, which allows users to access both sites at the same time. Other developments The website http://mcewatch.com issues a monthly report on the credibility of news website.
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It monitors 17 news websites in Egypt that are affiliated to printed newspapers, it recorded that July had the highest percentage of credibility violations in 2013. No Egyptian website was deemed to have a credibility rating of between 75% and 100%, while five sites scored between 50% and 74.99%, and ten sites scored between 25% and 49.99%. The five most credible sites were Egynews, al Shuruq, al Badil, al Masry al Youm and Rassd. The five least credible sites were Hurriya wa Adela, al Watan, al Ahram, Elfagr and Youm7. Note that according to Alexa, Youm7 is the most visited website in Egypt.

4. The role of social media

During recent events in Egypt, social media and citizen reporters have taken a strong role in reporting on events that professional media have been unable to reach. During the occupation of Rabaa al Adaweya square by followers of the Muslim Brotherhood and pro-Morsi supporters, media organisations were not able to cover the sit-in, with the exception of the Qatari-owned al Jazeera Mubashir Masr TV channel. Residents of the area took shots of events and uploaded them to social networks, from which the official media was able to obtain media material. Social media has also had a role in the coverage of other events, such as the murder of a Shiite sheikh and four others in a village; video of the corpses was uploaded to YouTube by a local villager, and was subsequently covered by official media.

5. Independent News Websites

A news portal providing news about Egypt, www.news.egypt.com, was set up by Egypt.com. al Masrawy independent news website allocated a section for privately-owned television channel ON TV and Nougoom FM radio to publish the times of their programmes. News website al Badail, under editor-in-chief Khaled al Balshy, was closed down due to financial constraints. Mada, a new English language news website, started its work with an editorial team formed out of the editorial team that had been responsible for the English language weekly Independent, published by al Masry al Youm.

6. Egyptian Radio and Television Union

The state-owned Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) had to break with its tradition of commissioning and airing television drama series during the month of Ramadan because of its financial problems. Shokri Abu-Emirah, head of ERTU, decided to halt all investigations into the anchors, editorsin-chief, editors and directors at Maspero due to them expression their opinions, in addition to letting the staff of Radio Masr who had been expelled from their programmes in the last months return to their positions.
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ERTU granted to the right to live broadcast to all Egyptian and Arab satellite channels in addition to foreign channels and agencies during the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in, to avoid the reporting of false news. The chief of the radio channels decided to abort all entertainment programmes and songs on all broadcast channels to give them a wide space to cover the events in Egypt and to broadcast patriotic songs for an unlimited period. Essam Al Amer took over the ERTU presidency from Shokri Abu-Emirah, and stated that the biggest crisis facing ERTU is the issue of wages because of the financial crisis that Maspero is facing. The Higher Prosecution Authority for Public Funds decided to imprison Eng. Amr Khafef, Head of Broadcast Engineering in ERTU, pending investigation. He is accused of facilitating the takeover of two live transmission vehicles during the Rabaa sit-in by the Muslim Brotherhood. The vehicles are worth 50 million EGP. Due to the ongoing financial crisis, ERTU salaries for August 2013 were not paid, and Doria Sharef Eldeen, Minister of Information, has frozen any new recruitment for ERTU because of budget reductions.

7. Satellite TV Channels
The number of the satellite channels closed during the period of this report is more than the number of channels closed after the 25 January revolution, as in the two and half years since, only two channels were closed. General developments After the speech of the General Command of the Egyptian Armed Forces on 3 July 2013, the transmission was cut from five religious satellite channels and all their workers were arrested, including the anchors and the guests. The security forces said that these channels had incited violence against demonstrators, and that the owners of these channels were figures affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist groups, who were strongly opposed to the ousting of Mohamed Morsi and the demonstrations of 30 June. Among these channels are Masr 25, affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, and al Rahma, Hafez, al Nas and al Khaliyia, affiliated to Salafist groups. There has been an ongoing crisis with regard to al Jazeera Mubasher Masr, which has been accused by Egyptian security forces of inciting conflict in Egypt, spreading false news and only covering pro-Morsi demonstrations, while al Jazeera Mubasher Masr has accused the Egyptian security forces of harassment. There were two waves of mass resignations at al Jazeera Mubasher Masr in July and August in protest at the stations editorial policy, which was seen as biased towards the Muslim Brotherhood. During the protests, security forces in Suez governorate arrested the team of the English edition of al Jazeera Mubasher Masr and held them in the military intelligence headquarters. The head of the al Jazeera Mubasher Masr bureau in Cairo, Cheif Abdelfatah Fayed, was summoned for investigation on 3 July on charges of disturbing public order and threatening
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national security, but the public prosecution didnt submit any evidence, and therefore he was released on the second day after paying a bail of 10,000 EGP. Mohamed Mohamed Bader, a photographer of al Jazeera Mubasher Masr was arrested while covering the clashes on 17 July and geld for 15 days. The public prosecution pressed charges of assembly with unknown others for the purpose of assaulting the authorities and resisting them by force and violence, in addition to joining a gang that aims to prevent the state foundation from following its work, assaulting the personal freedoms of the citizens and harming public security. Police raided the Cairo bureau of the Iranian television station al Alam and confiscated equipment. At first they gave no explanation, then said the station did not have a permit to broadcast. This was denied by bureau chief Ahmad Al-Sioufi, who was held for 24 hours and then freed on bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds. The security forces closed the Cairo bureau of al Quds, a privately-owned satellite TV channel on 13 August 2013 because of violations of the conditions of transmission, and confiscated all the channels equipment. At a conference in Tunisia, Khalil Fahmy, editor-in-chief of al Ahram TV Online and previous director of the BBC Office and Sky News in Cairo, stated that the media in Egypt today is based on authority without accountability. At the same conference, Amr Al Kahky, editor-in-chief of al Nahar television channel, in response to Khalil Fahmys statement, acknowledged the existence of serious mistakes and encroachments in various Egyptian media outlets; and pointed to the existence of differentiation between media institutions in Egypt, especially for the private news channels, in which editorial policy is often affected by the pressures of advertisers and financiers. Assaults on the Satellite channels and their staff On 30 June 2013, Muslim Brotherhood supporters armed with sticks and steel bars attacked a Cairo News Company crew while they were filming the protests from the top of a building. Satellite transmission engineer Mohamed Zidan had a leg broken, cameraman Gad Alhak received several blows that needed hospital treatment and sound engineer Kareem Hanafy also sustained multiple injuries. Equipment worth $140,000 was 80 per cent destroyed. Teams from Sky News and ON TV were attacked by pro-Morsi demonstrators during the Ramsis Square events of 15 July 2013. al Hayyat satellite TV channel reporter Tarek Abbas and a reporter of the satellite TV channel Dream were injured by live ammunition while covering the dispersal of supporters of president Mohamed Morsi. A team from Mehwar television channel was hijacked by Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Helwan on August 23, 2013. They were later released. Security forces stormed the office of Turkish news agency Ekhlas on August 21, 2013 and detained the agencys office chairman in Cairo, Tahir Osman Hamdi, a Dutch citizen. It is reported that the authorities confiscated broadcasting equipment belonging to the agency. The Egyptian public prosecutor issued an order to extend the detention of Turkish journalist Mateen Turan, working for the Turkish governmental broadcasting agency TRT, who was detained according to news reports based on the reports of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists.
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A demonstrator hit Mena Alaa, a journalist with al Masry al Youm TV, in the face and took her camera as she was filming an attack on a vehicle during a pro-Morsi march near Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo on 19 July 2013.

8. Freedom of Expression
The infrastructure in Egypt is restrictive for freedom of expression as the Egyptian legislative philosophy is based upon restricting freedom of expression, not regulating freedom of expression. According to Emad Mubarak of the AFTE, among the reasons for the lack of freedom of expression in Egypt are: - The lack of professionalism in several media outlets, which leads to a lack of freedom of expression and the occasional intervention of security forces to ban some outlets; and - The political will is not clear in its attitude towards freedom of expression.

9. Infringements on Freedom of Expression

Human Rights Watch is concerned over what they call arbitrary actions against the Muslim Brotherhood and affiliated news media, and considers this to be a violation of freedom of expression in Egypt. Reporters without Borders is concerned about the growing hostility towards the media profession in Egypt. The Egyptian Press Syndicate criticized the closure of Islamist satellite TV channels in the wake of the 30 June events as constituting a violation of press freedom. The media and production city was attacked three times during the period of this report by Morsi supporters, who burned tyres in front of the gates of the city and fired live ammunition, stones and Molotov cocktails. The clashes with the security forces resulted in the death of one soldier of the Central Security Troop. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) issued its annual report on freedom of expression in the Arab world, which stated that 2012 was one of the years of the most violations of freedom of expression in Egypt. On July 4, state censors banned that days second edition of Hurriya wa Adela, and on July 6 the newspaper said that the state-owned Ahram printing house had limited its distribution to 10,000 copies.

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10. Access to Information

The constitution of 1971 granted the right of access to information to journalists, and the constitution of 2012 granted this right also to ordinary citizens, but in reality, access to information still represents a big obstacle to both journalists and citizens today. According to Emad Mubarak of AFTE, the main reason for the non-issuance of a law that regulates the freedom of information in Egypt is the conservative mentality of those responsible for drafting laws and legislation. There is a network and exchange of interests among the various parties responsible for this work, and this law will not be issued without clear and strong political will.

11. State and government institutions dealing with media and media freedom
At the time of this report the Egyptian state owned eight publishing houses, 55 printed periodicals, nine broadcast networks and 30 satellite TV channels. Interim president Adly Mansour decided to revoke the penalty of imprisonment for charges of insulting the president, changing it to a fine. This was seen as a positive step in the road to freedom of expression. The Supreme Council of the Press Interim president Adly Mansour constituted a new Supreme Council of the Press, which consists of 15 members, instead of the former 50. After the dissolution of the Shura Council following the events of 30 June, this council will assume the authority of jurisdiction related to the media, previously exercised by the Shura Council. The council will also be responsible for approving legislation related to the press. The new council is headed by Galal Aref, former chairman of the Journalism Syndicate, and includes the current President of the Board of the Journalism Syndicate, as well as more than three other members nominated by the syndicate. Other appointments include the Dean of Cairo Universitys Department of Mass Communications and a second media professor nominated by the Supreme Council of Universities, two law professors with experience in media legislation, nominated by the Supreme Council of the Universities, the president of the Egyptian Writers Union, one representative of Dar al Maarif and one representative of the Ministry of Finance. Four public figures and senior journalists were appointed to the council after consultation with the Board of the Journalism Syndicate. According to the new chair, the council will work on rectifying control over the state-owned media by the now defunct Shura Council, which had turned them into subsidiaries of the former ruling parties. Minister of Information Doria Sharef Eldeen is supervising the preparation of new library of historical tapes and rare media productions in order to preserve the cultural heritage of radio and television. ERTU is considered the largest owner of such content in the Middle East.

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12. Journalism Syndicates

There is one official journalism syndicate for print and online media, able to issue press cards, and three independent journalism syndicates. A large number of journalists who covered the turbulent events of this period were young and not (yet) members of the official syndicate, and therefore relatively unprotected. The Head of the Journalism Syndicate, Diaa Rashwan, intervened to release anchors and staff of religious satellite channels who were arrested on 3 July 2013. Khaled al Balshy, a member of the Board of the Journalism Syndicate said in statements to albawabanews on 5 August 2013 that the new formation of the Supreme Council of the Press that was approved by the interim president had been proposed by the Syndicate, indicating that the new council is a limited and interim formation to administer the transition and avoid the mistakes of the first transition. Al Balshy said that the council would take into account achieving more independence from the government, paving the way to full independence. The Board of the Journalism Syndicate proposed nine articles to the committee formed to amend the constitution. These articles covered areas such as freedom of expression, the press and the media is ensured and the prohibition of censorship except on exceptional bases. These nine articles are the same articles that the Board proposed to the committee that was formed to draft the constitution of 2012, but the articles were disregarded.

13. Activities of civil society organizations related to media developments

Reporters without Borders is concerned about the growing violence against journalists and media outlets in Egypt. It has mentioned that journalists and media outlets have become targets amid the polarised political scene. The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) issued a report that monitors violations against journalists after the deposing of Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. 21 journalists suffered from violations while covering these events, ranging from injuries by live ammunition, destruction of equipment and physical attacks from demonstrators. The National Coalition for Media Freedom submitted to the legal committee that has been assigned to amend the constitution a memo regarding the articles included in the suspended constitution that offended the Egyptian media. Among these are the articles related to freedom of expression, press and media, access to information and guarantees to effect these freedoms, the independence of media bodies from state control and the abolition of the penalties in the publishing cases. The Coalition wants to change 25 articles. The National Coalition for Media Freedom includes more than 20 civil and human rights organisations and tens of activists in different branches of media. A group of civil society organisations concerned with media freedoms issued a statement to reject the exceptional procedures committed by the security forces, which include the storming of the headquarters of channels and closing them. The group asserted the necessity for the Egyp12 Media Monitor 07

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tian authorities to respect the standards of media freedom stipulated in international law regardless of the political situation. The organisations in this group include the Hisham Mubarak Centre, the Egyptian Centre for Social and Economic Rights, the Association for Freedom and Expression, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Support for Information Technology Centre and the El Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence. Emad Mubarak of AFTE stated that the closing of satellite channels constitutes a collective punishment for workers of such channels; the decision to close these channels was lacking in transparency and was not according to the proper legal process. Emad Mubarak also criticized the lack of neutrality and professionalism of Egyptian media in covering the events around 30 June 2013, and stated that there was no trust in the media due to perceived government control. He concluded that the solution lies in reforming, organizing and training media workers, in addition to establishing a parallel popular media that should be supported, developed and spread in order to report the truth and embarrass the existing media. ANHRI welcomed the decision to revoke the penalty of imprisonment for the crime of insulting the president; however, ANHRI believes that the crime of insulting the president should not exist and should instead be dealt with through libel and slander legislation.

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