Behind the News
Behind the News — July 18, 2012 06:50 AM
In Egypt, new newspapers and old problems
Citizens need good journalism to explain confusing times, but many Egyptians don’t trust their media
By Jared Malsin
- One Page
- Comments
- Digg Facebook Twitter Reddit StumbleUpon Delicious
CAIRO, EGYPT — Egyptian newsstands today offer a lively range of options, including three government-owned papers, papers affiliated with political parties, and several privately-owned papers, some of which sprung up since the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Since only 30 percent of Egyptians have access to the Internet, according to 2011 figures, newspapers, along with television and radio, are likely to continue playing a key role in Egyptian media for years.
Although overt government censorship was ousted along with Mubarak, Egypt’s burgeoning independent press is facing a new and more complex set of challenges. A lack of government transparency coupled with questions about the political and business interests controlling privately owned newspapers are adding to public skepticism of the mainstream press at the precise moment journalists are needed to cover the country’s difficult, delicate transition from military to civilian rule.
“We are moving from state ownership to oligarch ownership,” Hisham Kassem, a veteran of the independent press here, said in an interview in his apartment steps from Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. “In Egypt, the newspaper is owned by an individual who has nothing to do with the profession, but is there for the influence.”
Kassem, who in the 1990s founded the independent but now-defunct Cairo Times and later published the pioneering independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, is in the midst of launching a new cross-platform media company called Algomhouria Algadida (which translates as “The New Republic,” though it has no relation to the Washington, DC-based magazine, he said).
However, Kassem’s project remains, for the moment, in a holding pattern while he waits for jumpy investors to feel assured that the political situation in Egypt has stabilized. He recently had cable laid in an empty newsroom that he hopes will, by the end of the year, produce high-quality content for a newspaper, website, television station, and radio station.
Kassem says he plans to establish total editorial independence by insuring that no one investor will control more than 10 percent of the company.
This business model is an attempt to confront an existing problem of so-called “anchor investors,” usually business figures, often with connections to the old regime, who own controlling stakes in key news organizations. According to a recent report produced for the Ford Foundation, these investors treat the mainstream media “as pseudo-empires, fundamentally influencing public opinion.”
“In post-uprising Egypt, wealth is still owned by remnants of the old regime, and many of those individuals control an important share of the media market,” the report states. Even the owner of the respected Al-Masry Al-Youm is Salah Diab, a prominent businessman in the oil sector.
According to media expert Rasha Abdulla of the American University in Cairo, it’s difficult to ascertain the full extent of the anchor investor problem, because the relevant business records are not made available to the public.
“There’s no transparency of ownership, so we really are not sure who owns particular newspapers,” she said.
Abdulla also said rumors of investor interference in content undermine public confidence in the media. “People are skeptical of the editorial policies or the intentions of the newspapers almost at all times, because we have not seen newspapers that have consistently been doing a good job, and we are always hearing stories of ‘so and so made a phone call and it affected the outcome of this particular article,’” she said.
Meanwhile, the alleged investor meddling comes at a time when, owing to an otherwise baffling political situation, clear reporting and critical analysis could not be more desperately needed.
An ongoing power struggle is playing out in Egypt between the newly elected Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated president, Mohamed Morsi, and the generals of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces who took power when Mubarak stepped down. After Egypt’s Constitutional Court, in consultation with the generals, dissolved the recently elected parliament last month, most political deliberation has taken place behind closed doors.
- 1
- 2
- One Page
- Report an Error
- Digg Facebook Twitter Reddit StumbleUpon Delicious
Subscribe to the Columbia Journalism Review at our special Web rates.
Post a Comment
-
Word Count: 0 -
Note: Several minutes will pass while the system is processing and posting your comment. Do not resubmit during this time or your comment will post multiple times. Reminder, comments longer than 4,000 characters will be truncated.
About the Author
Jared Malsin Jared Malsin --> is a graduate fellow in journalism and Near Eastern Studies at New York University
Recent Comments
- John Mecklin on How to handle oppo research? (2)
- Mark Richard on In Joe Willams's firing, questions of race (1)
- Brett on How to worry about a clicks-driven Times-Picayune (1)
- Dan A. on The WSJ Editorial Page and the Libor scandal (12)
- Dan A. on More on NPR and manufactured quotes (9)
- Lionel D on Our gullible press (6)
- Harris Meyer on Unanswered questions in the Romney/Bain controversy (5)
- Anna on Copyright and punishment (1)
Related Articles
- Copyright and punishment A panel of Internet entrepreneurs tackle property rights in the digital age
- Our gullible press Ryan Holiday explains how the singular pursuit of traffic makes online media suckers for fake news
—advertisement—
Desks
The Audit Business
- How to worry about a clicks-driven Times-Picayune A departing reporter’s worst-case fears
- Audit Notes: Bloomberg on Libor, “can’t find workers” in the WSJ At least 34 traders are under investigation in the widening scandal
The Observatory Science
- Flames, causes and context As Western wildfires rage, reporters grapple with stories beyond acreage burned and homes destroyed
- The heatwave debate How the science of probability affects science coverage
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- How to handle oppo research? It’s simple: If your scoop got a helpful boost from a campaign, let readers know
- An indictment in North Carolina After NC Policy Watch investigates, a lawmaker faces criminal charges
Behind the News The Media
- How to worry about a clicks-driven Times-Picayune A departing reporter’s worst-case fears
- In Joe Willams’s firing, questions of race Would the former Politico reporter have been dismissed for his comments if he were white?
Receive a FREE Issue
of Columbia Journalism Review
- If you like the magazine, get the rest of the year for just $19.95 (6 issues in all).
- If not, simply write cancel on the bill and return it. You will owe nothing.
Blog
The Kicker last updated: Wed 4:39 PM
- With Borowitz acquisition, NewYorker.com launches a new humor vertical (Updated)
- Journalism worth preserving
- New NYT public editor brings experience, online savvy
- Diane Sawyer’s ‘hot’ newscast
- Listen: Swing States Project staffer on weak coverage of Bain dispute
Join The CJR E-mail List
The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Fri 9:04 AM
- Gossip Extra Celebrity news goes local in South Florida
- The Hechinger Report Strengthening education reporting nationwide
On the anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, here is a video mosaic of every NASA space shuttle launch from 1981 to 2011 (watch full-screen and with sound)
More
The Magazine
Jul/Aug 12
- Table of Contents
- Subscribe
- Back Issues
Audio / Podcast
-
Former Huffington Post CTO Paul Berry: A CJR Podcast
-
James Boylan on Founding CJR: A CJR Podcast
Editors' Picks
-
The Bo scandal: how we got that story Thanks to the web, you can follow the money online—even in China
-
Liz Cox Barrett picks her top stories from 2011 Best of 2011: Liz Cox Barrett
-
A VIP pass to cover the Iowa presidential caucuses Access and amenities for a cost
-
How the media has shaped the Social Security debate The press plays a dubious role
Thanks, Jared Malsin, for making things a little less "opaque" for those of us some distance from Cairo.
#1 Posted by Michael Thomas, CJR on Wed 18 Jul 2012 at 09:38 AM