asah - media monitor - 5th edition - english

8/13/2019 ASAH - Media Monitor - 5th Edition - English

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Media Monitor Egypt - 05Bi-monthly report on the media situation

(mid January- mid March 2013)

Al Sawt Al Hurr

Arab Network for Media Supportwww.asahnetwork.org


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Media Monitor 05

(mid January- mid March 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, newswebsites and other initiatives. Each edition also covers information on the environment inwhich media in Egypt operate, e.g. the legal, nancial, social and political developments thataffect dynamism, quality and diversity of the media landscape. With these reports al Sawt alHurr aims to provide media workers, researchers, academics and whoever else is interested inthe eld of media, with a systematic description and analysis of the rapid developments thattake place in of the Egyptian media scene.

Each Monitor consists of the following two parts.

Part 1 General Developments

The rst part provides the monitoring results on the latest developments, presentedto readers with an interest in and some minimal knowledge of the Egyptian medialandscape.

Part 2 Research ResultsThe second part zooms in on one particular issue or subject relevant to media anddevelopment and presents a summary of an analytical study conducted during thesame period. For this copy research was conducted onCoverage of Economic news of Newspapers and Websites in Egypt

Research team

Eman Kheir Media developmentsAl Shaimaa Alazab Operational ResearchYasr abdelAziz Arabic Editor Petrus Schothorst English Editor

Kindly send your reactions, suggestions, etc. to [email protected]


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Part IGeneral developments in the media in Egypt


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1. Developments in the media sector in general

The period documented by this report saw a steady but prominent increase in the number oflegal charges that have been brought against journalists to a variety of courts in the country.These legal cases differ in nature, but one type of cases stuck out. According to a study of theThe Arabic Network for Human Rights, 24 cases were brought against journalists and othermedia workers for insulting the President during the rst 200 days since his appointment asagainst 23 cases during the past 126 years.

The serious nancial problems facing the media and its consequences were already noticed dur-ing the previous report. This trend continued during the present period and after state and partyaf liated media, more privately owned media are now also affected.

The period under study saw a strong increase in violence against media workers during theexecution of their work. This development is clearly linked to the strong political polarizationthat is taking place.

This polarization also has its consequences for the news reporting itself. Many items of do-mestic news were covered in opposing ways by different media, making it more dif cult forthe researchers to do their work properly. If a con icting news report could not be veri ed by athird independent source, it was decided included in this Monitor.

2. Newspapers

During the period covered by this report, there were a total of 23 national daily newspapers published; of which state owned ; party af liated and privately owned.There were also 19 weeklies.

New newspapers

- al Ethnayen (Monday), a weekly newspaper was launched, with journalist Abu AbbasMohammed as editor in chief and Taher Al Hazeen as chairman.

- Rasd, a weekly newspaper has started, with journalist, Mohammed El Manadeely as itseditor in chief and Al Ameer Mamdouh Hassan as chairman.

- al Mussawar magazine stopped publishing for the rst time since its start in 1924, dueto a nancial crisis. This magazine is issued by Dar al Hilal publishing house, a stateowned foundation, established in 1822, considered the oldest cultural institution in theArab world.

- al Sabah newspaper, privately owned by businessman Ahmed Bahgat, was closed because of nancial problems. Its chairman, Osama Ezz Eldeen, announced that alSabah would re-open as a weekly newspaper as of February 2013.


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Other developments

Journalists working for al Sabah held a sit-in at the of ce of the newspaper and some of themdeclared a hunger strike to force the administration to accept their demands and pay them theirnancial dues.

The businessman Ahmad Abu Hashima joined the Youm 7 foundation, which issues the newspaper and news website, as a new shareholder.

Legal battles

Yousry al Badri, head of the crime reporting section of Masry el Youm , was interrogated forcharges brought against him by the presidency for spreading false news about the presidency,which would disturb the public order, brought against him for articles, published on the news-

papers website on January 19, 2013 about a visit of President Mohamed Morsi to Maadi mili-tary hospital.

A legal case was initiated against al Watan newspaper and its editor in chief, Magdi al Galad,and the chairman Mohammed Amin by lawyer Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Abdul Jalil demand-ing the closure of the newspaper for the newspaper having caused the collapse of theeconomy by publishing false news and for harming president Mohamed Morsi by publishing

photographs lampooning him and making fun of him..

al Masryoun privately owned newspaper has lodged a complaint with the Attorney General because its journalist Mohammed Al Meshtawi was assaulted with sharp weapons by ve un-identi ed gunmen, which resulted in cutting off the arteries in both his hands, his personal

belongings were also seized.The Prosecution Of ce of the Supreme State Security Service started investigations on private- -ly owned newspaper al Watan; its editor in chief Magdi Al Galad and its news editor Ahmedal Khatib, for publishing a list of assassination candidates of a group known in the media asthe criminal cell of Nasr City.

Waleed Ismail, journalist of al Tahrir privately owned newspaper, was sentenced in absentiato a year in prison, because of clashes that erupted between journalists and security forces inthe hall of the police academy on the eve of the verdict of the former President Hosni Mubarakand his sons, as well as the Minister of Interior, Habib al-Adli and his aides, who were foundinnocent, except for Mubarak and Al-Adli.

Acts of violence against media and media workers

Un-identi ed assailants attacked the of ce of al Watan newspaper and set the ground oor ofthe newspaper on re.

Unidenti ed groups threatened with the invasion of media city in madinat 6 th October city, tosilence TV channel broadcasts whose political views they are opposed to.

Ashraf Mounir, journalist of al Masaa newspaper of the Akhbar Al-Youm group was attacked by Central Security Forces, while covering the events of the Peoples Assembly in Alexandria.

Five photojournalists were assaulted and their cameras smashed, while covering events in PortSaid, following the decision of the Criminal Court to refer the papers of 20 defendants of PortSaid carnage to His Eminence the Mufti of the Republic.


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3. Multimedia trends of newspapers

Google , ranked the most visited newspaper websites as follows: Youm 7 , Masryel Youm , al Ahram, al Shuruq , al Gomhuriya , al Watan and al Wafd.

-Youm 7 newspaper launched Cairo Dar website www.cairodar.blogspot.com which isan educational site dedicated to high school level students, and depends on the interaction

between teachers and students through the interactive exams on the website.

-al Watan , privately owned daily newspaper has set up a new educational portal, andasked teachers to join them in order to bene t from its special features.

-Vito newspaper launched a new web portal, with a section called Sakhron (sarcasm),

where the readers can put their views and comments about current events in a cynical way.-al Watan , the privately owned newspaper, has developed a screen of the Egyptian Stock

Market on its website for the rst time, to follow the stock indicators, minute by minute.

-Youm 7s website has launched a new web-streaming channel called Youm 7 video chan-nel , to view all the videos.

-al Gomhuriya the state owned newspaper has launched a new portal on the Internet.

4. Interactions with readers, viewers and users

More and more Egyptian media make use of social media to communicate with theirreaders. According to the National Telecommunications Organization: 22 millionEgyptians use the social website YouTube , and ve thousand people each day joinedthe social networking site Facebook since the revolution of January 25, 2011.

-Nureed website launched a news story contest for visitors to become reporters, so they areable to write news and publish pieces using their names on the website.

- Mandara media portal communicates with its visitors through the ability to send an ideaor story, and then to publish it on the website, in order to activate the idea of the local pressin Upper Egypt.

- a l Hurraya wal Adala, party af liated newspaper launched an interactive service for itsreaders, handling problems, suggestions or questions for of cials or governors, by sendinga short SMS from a mobile phone to a speci c telephone number for that purpose at thenewspaper.

- al Watan website launched a so-called Interactive Facility where a subject is placed onthe site, and the journalist solicits visitors opinion concerning that subject.


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5. Independent new websites

Techno Wireless estimates that the number of internet users has risen from21.2 million before January 25 2011 to 31.52 million users, two years later.

- Di Salata www.disalata.com is the rst Egyptian electronic magazine founded by a team of amateurs who love themedia eld, and they linked the website to social networking sites, Facebook, Twitter,and YouTube.

-Klmty , www.klmty.comis a news website and has pages on the social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter.

-al Mogaz www.almogaz.com news website is now having a new page on Google+.

-al Wadi www.elwadynews.com A news website, with editor-in-chief Emad El Sayed, gives the possibility of follow-up onsocial networking sites Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+.

-al Mandara www.mandaraonline.comis a portal for local media news from the 11 governorates of Upper Egypt, with the aim todevelop these local media. Mandara has pages on social networking websites, Facebook,

Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and it has its own TV channel on the website.-Karmoz www.karmoz.com ,

A news website, with a focus on news of Alexandria governorate by citizen journalists.It is run by a team of students, fresh graduates and young journalists.

-Mansoura Online www.mansouraonline.com ,A news website, with a focus on news of al Mansoura city in Daqahlia Governorate. Thesite is managed by a group of journalists originally from this city who are feeding thewebsite with news and information, and its pages on social networking sites Facebook,YouTube and Twitter.

-Ehna Keda www.e7nkeda.comElectronic magazine with a youthful spirit with pages on social networking sites Facebook,Twitter; it also has a channel on YouTube.

-al Badeel www.elbadil.comelectronic newspaper launched Al Badeel TV on YouTube.

The Egyptian company Techno Wireless , specialized in e-marketing and mobile phone net-works, estimates that the number of internet users has risen from 21.2 million before January 252011 to 31.52 million users, two years later. Users in Egypt now spent 1,800 minutes per monthon internet, compared to 900 minutes before the revolution.

The number of users of the social networking website Facebook before January 25, 2011 was

4.2 million people, but after the revolution it climbed up to 12 million users, while the number


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of users on the social networking site, Twitter was about 26,800 users before the revolution, and

then increased to 44,200 users after.Techno Wireless also found that the behavior of Egyptian internet users changed after therevolution of January 25, 2011, whereas they were more interested in entertainment before thisdate, after the revolution they became more interested in using online tools and the use of inter-mediate websites. Users now also search for credible news and live streaming of information.

Google search engine mentioned that the most visited independent new website during this period was Masrawy.

6. Egyptian Radio and Television Union

During the period of this study, the debts of the Radio and Television Unionhave reached a total of 20 billion Egyptian pounds.

According to the report issued by the Content Quality and Professionalism Commission of the Egyptian Radio and TV Union and all its divisions and sectors of it (radio and television), tendto get confused every time when an emergency situation in the country occurs, with the conse-quence that the public opinion is fully controlled by the private media, which are also ahead in

bringing scoops and live coverage of events.

The number of program presenters at the Egyptian television has been reduced from 10 to only

4 per program. According Shukri Abu Omaira, general director of the TV Sector, some pro-grams with up to 14 (rotating) presenters were canceled.

Other programs, e.g. Daftar Ahwal Masr,Studio 27 and Mobasher Min Masr, were termi-nated because they did not generate enough advertisements and formed a burden on the over-stretched budget of the television sector.

Ibrahim El Sayyad, head of the news sector, stated that his sector will start a series of new programs, including the program 45 minutes , a talk show on Nile News Channel replacingthe old program Kalam El Youm. Short breaking news ashes will be aired every hour. Adaily news report for Egyptians living abroad will be broadcast on the Nile News and Sawt

El Shab channels .

There would also will be a new monthly program called Wageh al Shab hosting the PrimeMinister, broadcasted on the channels, Nile Life , Nile News and Sawt al Shaab.

Four educational channels on Nilesat, belonging to Nile Specialized Sectors, were closeddown at the request of the Ministry of Education. Nizar Maghawri, director of these channels,said that government of cials were disappointed with the low viewing rates.

According to the employees of the educational channels, the ministries of Information and Edu-cation agreed to launch two new educational channels at a reduced cost (10 million EPS insteadof 22 million pounds), and that workers from the two ministries would work on it together.

According to the National Commission for Radio and Television the Egyptian government pays 985 million pounds a year for infomercials and ads on Egyptian television. These are com-missioned by various ministries for awareness raising and for commercial purposes.


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Magda Al Qadi, the presenter of Nile Cinema channel, had to defend herself at ERTUs dis-

ciplinary committee because of an episode of her program Studio Masr that was broadcastedlive during which the artist Mahmoud Kabil opined that President Mohamed Morsi does nothave charisma and I didnt vote for him.

Ryada Samir, anchorwoman of Youth and Sports radio station was punished by the same com-mittee for a radio program in February, during which a caller criticized the president of the Re-

public. She thanked the caller for his comments and refrained from criticizing him. Her monthlyincentives were withheld and she was not allowed to host any radio programs

According to editor in chief of Akhbar Masr website of the News Sector of the ERTU , heand another editor were suspended pending investigation for publishing news about the crisisin Port Said city and the declaration of civil disobedience.

Nogoum FM , and Nile FM state radio stations, owned by Nile Radio Production Companyhave obtained the 2012 international Super brands award for their success in reaching a wideaudience.

7. Commercial Satellite TV

Satellite TV companies and channels came under re during this period. Many legalcases were brought against them and many workers, managers and even work loca-tions were subjects of violence.

- al Magd , a new TV channel with an Islamic orientation was launched, owned by busi-nessman Mohammed Saber.

- CRT TV channel started, owned by a group of Egyptian shareholders, and the director ofthe channel is Hani Ahmed.

- Al Faraeen private channel owned by Taw q Okasha, returned on air, after the paymentof channel debts, which reached $ 207 thousand US dollars.

- Mona Shazly, the Egyptian presenter received the 2012 Award of most prominent femalemedia personality in the Arab world, during the Arab Youth Media Forum in Jordan.

Legal battlesMahmoud Hassan Abul Eynen has led a lawsuit against the CBC channel to suspend its li-cense, because of trespasses committed during its al Barnameg program, presented by BasemYoussef, who taunted and ridiculed the president and some of the state symbols, as well as thespiritual guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, during the previous three months, which is an in-fringement of article 81 of the new Constitution of 2012, which states that exercising the rightsand freedoms of citizens are limited by integrity of the state and society. Article 31, states thatdignity is a right of every person and community and must be respected and protected no

person may be insulted or held in contempt.

Another investigation of Bassem Youssef started as part of a lawsuit brought against him by

lawyer Ramadan Abdel Hamid, the general coordinator of Gabhet al Enkaz al Masry (the Is-lamic Rescue Front of Egypt), accusing him of insulting President Mohammed Morsi.


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A number of lawyers led a lawsuit to stop the program Hona Al Qahira presented by Ibra-

him Eissa on the al Qahira Wal Nas satellite channel, accusing its presenter of defamation ofreligions.

The Administrative Court ruled the restart of broadcasting the Dream channels, from its stu-dios in Dreamland.

The Administrative Court halted broadcasting of al Hafez the Islamic channel for a periodof 30 days and prevented Atef Abdul Rashid and Abdullah Badr from appearing in any othermedia for the same period, following a lawsuit, led by the artist Elham Shahin, against themfor insulting her on the channel programs.

The Attorney General released media host Mahmoud Saad, stating his innocence in a lawsuitsubmitted by the presidency against him, on charges of insulting the president through ridiculeand incitement during the Akher Al Nahar program on Al-Nahar satellite channel .Dina Abdel Fattah, the presenter of the program Al Shaab Yoreed on al Tahrir channel, and

producer Khairy Hussein, the journalist in the Al Akhbar - were released after paying a bail of5,000 pounds, in the lawsuit against them by the State Security Agency and the Shura Council,on charges of supporting terrorism and hosting representatives of the Black Block group,during one of the episodes of the program. This group was accused of being a terrorist groupthat wants to disturb public security, and encourage others to carry out acts of sabotage againststate enterprises.

The media coordinator of the Freedom and Justice Party, broadcaster of 25 January TV chan-nel was released without bail after he was charged with insulting the judiciary in his programal Sharee al Syasi .

Violence against satellite media workers

A crew of Masr 25 TV channel was attacked by unknown assailants while covering demon-strations on Friday of Dignity on February 8, 2013 at Tahrir Square. They were detained and

prevented from completing broadcasts from the square and their equipment con scated, whichwas later recuperated upon paying 3,500 pounds.

Aya Radi, correspondent of Sky News Arabia was assaulted by unknown assailants who triedto molest her , while she was covering the events of the second anniversary of the January 25revolution in Alexandria. The rest of the team also got assaulted while trying to save her.

A registration van of On TV channel was set on re while covering events in Port Said; thecorrespondent of CBC channel was beaten.

Nasreen Fouad, correspondent of al Nahar satellite channel, was shot in her foot with arubber bullet, while covering the clashes between protesters and police, at the main railwaystation Com El-Dekka in Alexandria.

The correspondent of Nile News of the Egyptian state television was attacked while coveringthe clashes in Sharqiya governorate and her laptop con scated.


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8. Freedom of expression

According to Reporters Without Borders , Egypt last year went up from posi-tion 166 to position 158 on a scale rating press freedom in 179 countries.

According to Reporters Without Borders , Egypt has last year gone up from 166 to158 on a listof 179 countries in terms of press freedom.

- Amnesty International condemned the imposition of a temporary ban on YouTube inEgypt, for refusing to ban a lm considered offensive to Islam and felt that it was a setbackfor freedom of expression. An Egyptian court sentenced a ban on YouTube for a periodof 30 days.

- A new law on the regulation the organization of demonstrations was approved by the Egyp-tian government, but organizations that defend human rights considered it a violation ofthe freedom of expression.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information issued a study entitled material restrict-ing freedom of expression in Egyptian laws - proposed amendments. The study includes 71different articles from seven basic laws, related to freedom of opinion and expression, the pressand publishing, namely: the Penal Code, and the law of establishing the journalism syndicate,and regulation of the press law, and the law of statistics and recall, and the law of of cial docu-ments and organized publishing, and the Telecommunications Regulatory Act, and the law ofartistic censorship.

The same network also issued a report, entitled the crime of insulting the president dealingwith more violations against the media and the press during the rst 200 days of President Mo-hamed Morsi tenure, reaching in half a year, four times that experienced in the past 30 years ofthe rule of former President Hosni Mubarak.

9. Infringements o n the Freedom of Expression

Huqooq.com published a list of the names of persons which the Minister of Information, aleading member of Muslim Brotherhood, decided to ban from access to the Maspero building,

premises of the state radio and television union.

The list includes many journalists, media professionals and politicians; Gamal Zahran, formermember of parliament; Gamal Fahmy, deputy chairman of the Journalism Syndicate; Khaled alBalshi editor-in-chief of Al-Bedaya website, Abdul Jalil Al-Sharnoubi member of Gabhet al

Ebdaa , Abdel Halim Qandil, editor-in-chief of Sawt al Umma , the researcher Prof. AmmarAli Hassan, and the journalists Said Shoaib and Sakina Fouad.

The journalist Ahmed Abu al Qasim, member of the Journalists Syndicate and secretary ofElectronic Journalists Syndicate, was arrested on charges of belonging to the Black Block group and handed over to the prosecution of ce, which released him the next day.

The headquarters of Brothers Online , the website of the Muslim Brotherhood was burned by

vandals against the backdrop of clashes between security forces and demonstrators during thecelebrations of the January 25 revolution.


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10. Access to information

In reaction to the two laws on freedom of Information that were initiated by civilorganizations, the Egyptian state presented its own proposal which was debated inthe Shura Council during the period of this report.

The rst proposal was submitted by a coalition of human rights organizations and journalists,led by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Right s (EIPR). The second proposal was submit-ted by United Group a legal rm.

The legal department of the Ministry of Justice presented a third proposal concerning theFreedom of Access to Information and Documents, which includes the creation of a SupremeCouncil for Data and Information. The proposal stipulated that access to information is guar-anteed for all, with the exception of con dential information and classi ed information, whichare protected for periods of respectively 5 or 30 years.

- The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights objected to the draft law, which the Min-istry of Justice brought to the Shura Council. The organization stated that the proposal isincompatible with the international covenants on human rights, which guarantee freedomsof opinion and expression and the right to access information. It also claimed that the pro-

posal is incompatible with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights issued in 1966, which was rati ed by the Egyptian government in 1981

11. State and government institutions dealing with the media

The Minister of Information, Salah Abdel-Maksoud has ordered the establishment ofcorrespondents corners at media centers in all governorates, where they can produce externalreports and interviews with governors and heads of local councils and broadcast these live onstate owned Sawt Al-Shab TV channel as a means to improve communication with citizensin all governorates.

The Ministry of Information appointed Abdel Fattah Hassan, as head of the Nile TV Specialized

Channels Sector.The Ministry of Information managed to economize 140 million pounds on expenditure of theERTU over a period of six months. It donated 61 million pounds to news agencies, productioncompanies, and photo agencies.

Ahmed Fahmy, Head of Shura Council has ordered the reactivation al Ray newspaper of the Dar al Tahrir foundation and give it rights to publish on activities of the Shura Council, tohelp save the newspaper from nancial crumbling. al Ray will dedicate special pages to theShura Council of the parliament and the achievements of its members.


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The Supreme Council of the Press

- A commission of the Supreme Council of the Press, charged with the Evaluation of theJournalistic Performance presented a draft Charter of Press and Media Code of Conduct,to the Culture, Tourism and Information Committee of the Shura Council, in order to

promote a dialogue with experts and professors of journalism and obtain their opinion onthe law draft.

- The proposed charter includes the basic principles of a Code of Conduct for professionaland ethical journalism and suggest establishment of a committee under the name of self-

judgment, to monitor, analyze and evaluate the performance of the press and the mediaand to proceed to mediate disputes between the media and the public. The charter consistsof 57 articles.

- The Supreme Council of the Press formed three separate committees to evaluate publicationsof two state owned publishing houses: Dar al Tahrir and Dar al Hilal The publicationsconcerned, Horiaty , Samir , and Shashty , ran into deep nancial problems.

- The Supreme Press Council will grant al Ray 300,000 pounds for its reporting work onthe Shura Council and for training its journalists on parliamentary reporting skills.

12. Journalism Syndicates

The Egyptian Journalism Syndicate and a number of newspapers managers and representativesof satellite channels paid visits to al Wafd and al Fagr to discuss the consequences of theerce attacks that took place at the of ces of these two newspapers.

- The Supreme Council of the Press xed the date for mid-term elections of the Board of thesyndicate on the rst of March 2013.

- The Registration Committee of the Egyptian Journalism Syndicate admitted a new batchof 478 journalists as provisional members, and promoted a batch of 111 journalists to fullmembership.

- The administrative Court has set the rst of March as the date for the midterm elections of the

Journalism Syndicate to choose the chairman and 6 members of the council. The syndicatehad challenged the judgment of the administrative court to halt the implementation of theSupreme Council of the Presss resolution to hold elections for the Council as of the rst ofMarch, on the backdrop of the lawsuit led by the journalist, Tariq Darwish.

- Said Shoaib, the columnist, has lodged a complaint with the Journalism Syndicate against theMinister of Information and member of the syndicate, demanding to open an investigationif and why he and a number of colleagues are prevented from entering the Maspero buildingand in doing so.. preventing them from appearing on state owned television channels.


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13. Activities of civil society organizations related to the media

- The Committee for the Defense of the independence of the press , will form a small com-mittee to evaluate the performance of newspapers in accordance with the rules of the pro-fession, and the press charter, in a number of state owned newspapers, independent, as wellas party af liated newspapers and websites. A report will be issued on the rst Monday ofevery month. The newspapers that will be subject to evaluation are al Ahram , and al

Akhbar state owned and privately owned newspapers Masry al Youm, al Watan , inaddition to al Sabah , and the party af liated newspapers al Hureya wal Adala , and alWafd , and the websites of a l Ahram and Youm 7.

- Political activist Sayed Fathi, manager of al Hilali Foundation for Freedoms announced

the decisions that were made after the meeting of editors of privately owned and party af-liated newspapers, which was held in order to discuss the political confrontation and legalassaults on the freedom of opinion and expression, and the decisions were: abstention of

journalists and writers from appearing before the Public Prosecutor, due to the illegitimatestatus of the Attorney General, as well as boycotting a number of prominent symbols of theMuslim Brotherhood and the Sala sts, thereby not publishing their photos in newspapers,in addition to publishing a report of all violations and attacks on freedom of the media atthe local and international levels.


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Part IICoverage of Economic news of Newspapers and Websites in Egypt

An analysis


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IntroductionEgypts current economy is going through a serious crisis. However, the views of the government,the opposition and economic experts differ on the nature and causes of the predicament.Moreover, thorny and critical economic issues have appeared on the scene, such as the IMF loan,the draft legislation on Islamic bonds (the Sukuk law), labor strikes and the demonstrations andsit-ins that hit Egypt from North to South. There are also the steep uctuations in the Egyptianstock market, in uenced by the continuing political turmoil. Facing this wave of crises, e.g. theEgyptian pounds decline against the US dollar, the consequent price increases, fuel shortages,the problems between bakery owners and the Minister of Supplies, one would hope the Egyptian

press would thoroughly and transparently cover these issues and provide the readers with clearexplanations on how these events and economic decisions directly affect the lives of the citizensof this country.

Being aware of the signi cance of economic reporting, especially during the present situation,al Sawt Al Hurr, Arab Network for Media Support has conducted a study on a selection ofnational newspapers and news websites that provide economic news to their readers. Thisstudy aims to monitor and analyze the coverage of the economic issues and problems and toassess to what extent the selected media present and interpret economic news and explain itsrami cations to the average layman reader.

Bearing in mind the aim of this study, it must be emphasized that there are a few good dailynewspapers, specialized in economic reporting, e.g. al Boursa (the Stockmarket) and al Mal(Finance), targeting a speci c market. This study however is concerned with general dailynewspapers and their ambition to reach a much wider group of readers with less knowledge andinsight of the issues at stake.

The study has reached its nding, based on the analysis of 484 news items, published in threenational news outlets: state-owned daily newspaper al Akhbar, privately-owned al Watandaily, party af liated newspaper al Hurriya wal Adala and three news websites, namely,AkhbarMasr (Egypt news) (state-owned), Masrawy (privately-owned), Ikhwan Online(af liated to Muslim Brotherhood). A media scanning method with content analysis tools wasused for press items of economic news in the aforementioned newspapers and news websites,

between the periods from 25th January to 14th March, 2013.

Main ndings:

The most important ndings of the study include:

1. The coverage of economic content in newspapers and websites is not proportionate tothe impact of the economic situation on the Egyptian society, as is evidenced by the rela-tive absence of economic information on the front pages of newspapers and the home

pages of news websites. Results of the study revealed that 98% of the economic newsitems of study sample found, was placed in the inner pages, while a mere 1% of theeconomic news was placed at either the front or the back page. The study did not nd aspeci c reason for the lack of importance given to economic news and the reasons for

not given it the prominence commensurate with its impact on Egyptian society.


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This could be due to the poor journalistic experience of those handling economic affairs,

consequently leading to the disinterest of readers in economic news in general, or it may be that the reader does not possess the minimum of economic knowledge which enableshim/her to suf ciently grasp the economic information offered by in the Egyptian mediastudied. Other reasons may be related to the small number of editors specialized in eco-nomic affairs, whether in newspapers or in news websites, or perhaps it is the prevailingculture of the Egyptian media, with its traditional and persistent interest in presidentialand political news, giving it priority and precedence over all other kinds of news.

2. When comparing the scope of economic news in newspapers and news websites of thestudy sample, ndings show that news websites left newspapers far behind in the num-

ber of economic news items covered, especially Masrawy website which kept follow-

ing and updating economic news around the clock, bene ting from the exibility thatonline journalism offers in comparison to the printed press.

3. The coverage of economic news has a super cial character and the study did not nda single example of economic analysis, with the exception of a report on the presentstate of the economic crisis in Egypt of Reuters news agency which translated and re-

published by Masrawy website it on its economic page.

4. At the start of this study a prediction was made on the topics of economic news thatwould be covered in the media during the period of the study, including the followingones: the economic performance of the current government, which came in rst placewith 12.8%, followed by the diesel fuel crisis with 7.6%, and the news on the stockexchange with 5.8%. Yet 54, 8% of all the economic news covered was on topics notforeseen or predicted by this study. The confrontation between the owners of bakeriesand the Minister of Supply, the crisis between Orascom Construction Industries andthe Egyptian Taxation Authority and the approval of the Sukuk law were all given muchattention.

5. The study showed that the economic press is de cient in its role and task of explaining,interpreting, analyzing or simplifying economic information to its readers. Therefore,the Egyptian public is deprived of their right to be informed in a way it can grasp theimplications of economic events (whether it is positive or negative) on their lives andfuture. 85, 5% of all news items reviewed did not offer any explanation compared to14.5% of the news items where some explanation was given. The study also found thenews items of both newspapers and websites reviewed lacking in de ning or explain-ing economic terms and concepts and in providing context, e.g. the legal and or politi-cal framework or basis for economic decision making. In most cases, newspapers andwebsites included in the study simply published economic news in its bare form, i.e.without any context or the historical background of the event, without alluding to therepercussions and implications of the news story on the future of the Egyptian society.

6. Newspapers and websites within this study referred to well- known sources in 87%of the items studied, with only 15.7% of items with no sources given. News in alWatan newspaper had the highest percentage of anonymous information among outletsreviewed. al Hurria wal Adala (Freedom & Justice) daily was most consistent in


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Chart No. (1)

Prices EconomicPerformance

Investments

Fuel Crisi s

Endowmentsand Lonas

FundRecovery

Strikes& Sit-ins

Fund ResreveCurrencyexchangeStock Market

Other

Economic Subjects

This table shows that only 1% of all the economic news items reviewed appeared on the front or back pages of the newspapers, whereas the other 98% was published on one of the inner pages.

Table No. (1)

NO Content location

NewspaperFrontPage InternalPage LastPage

1 al Akhbar 1.3% 96.1% 2.6%

2 al Watan 1.9% 98.1%

3 Hurriya wal Adala 100%

Total 100% 100% 100%

It is noteworthy that Hurriya wal Adala newspapers often published news headlines on the front page,with the actual new on the inner pages.

When it comes to journalistic genres, news items were used in the vast majority of cases (99, 9%) fol-lowed by news reports, news stories, features, and nally interviews.

Table No. (2)

NO Content location

NewspaperNews

NewsReport

NewsStory

Other

1 al Akhbar 88.2% 5.3% 3.9% 2.6%2 al Watan 87% 9.3% 1.9% 1.9%3 Hurriya wal Adala 87.7% 5.5% 1.4% 5.5%4 Akhbar Masr 94.9% 1.7% 3.4% 5 Masrawy 90.8% 2.5% 3.4% 3.4%6 Ikhwan Online 95.6% 4.4%

Total 90.9% 4.1% 2.7% 2.3%


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2. Newspapers and news websites and their use of sources

With regard to journalistic and information sources, the study results revealed that, in general, the newspapers and news websites under study adopted disclosed information sources known to the reader 87%versus 15.7% for undisclosed sources.

(Note: sometimes the source of the same piece of news could be categorized as known and as unknownat the same time).

Chart No. (2)

alAkhbar al Watan

Hurriyawal

Adala

AkhbarMasr

Masrawy

IkhwanOnline

know sources 88.20% 85.20% 93.20% 87.20% 84% 84%

anonynmous 11.80% 31.50% 6.80% 13.70% 18.50% 15.60%

0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%

100.00%

Information Sources Presence

This table shows that al Watan newspaper used undisclosed sources of information most frequentlyand that Hurriya wal Adala named their sources of information most often.

Chart No. (3)

56%

8%2%

34%

Types of Information Sourcesgovernment officials experts partisan officials Other

The latter conclusion is derived from results showed in the present chart. It shows that gov-ernment of cials are the most popular source of information in economic news (55.2%) withexperts (7.6%), party representatives (2.1%), with other sources including civil society groups,independent organizations and individual citizens (33%).


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Since most of the economic news of this sample came from government sources, the news ap-

peared to be favoring government policies and decisions and out of touch with Egyptian citi-zens and street concerns. For example, the analysis of the crisis with fuel and bakery ownersshows that statements made by the ministers of Petroleum and Supplies were always positiveand reassuring. They were often quoted as saying these crises would soon be resolved, whichwas not the case. As a consequence, this swayed economic reporting away from its role of in-forming readers and of helping the public nd solutions for their problems.

Chart No. (4)

Economist Mohsen Adel notes that expert do not generally like to have their comments andanalysis on economic issues and reports published in party-af liated newspapers, out of fear ofcompromising their impartiality and of appearing in support of certain ideological or politicalmovements.

Regarding journalism sources as shown in the following table newspapers have primarilydepended on their editors to get news, while websites depended largely on news agencies, par-ticularly the of cial MENA news agency.

Table No. (3)

NO Content locationNewspaper

Reporter Editor Local newsagencyForeignNewsAgency

Multi-sourced

Withoutsources

1 al Akhbar 10.5% 55.3% 2.6% 31.6%2 al Watan 83.3% 1.9% 3.7% 11.1%3 Hurriya wal Adala 67.1% 1.4% 31.5%4 Akhbar Masr .9% 34.2% 59.8% 3.4% .9% .9%

5 Masrawy 7.6% 64.7% 17.6% 9.2% 8%6 Ikhwan Online 11.1% 26.7% 57.8% 4.4%

Total 4.8% 54.8% 24.4% 3.1% 1.2% 11.8%

It is important to note that websites often copy the full piece of news from a news agency, with-out referring to the source, and sometimes it gets published under the editors name.


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Approach of Economic Information

Hurriya wal Adala (Freedom & Justice) came rst among newspapers and websites includedin the study, in covering news, re ecting positive economic performance (63%) versus negativeeconomic news (19.2%). Ikhwan Online came second (57%) followed by a l Akhbar (56.6%).

al Watan appeared to be focusing more on negative news on the economic situation in Egypt(53%) compared with positive news (16.7%). Meanwhile, no single negative news item on theEgyptian economy appeared on Ikhwan Online .

Depth and Explanation in Economic Reporting

1. Depth was not evident in economic reporting in both newspapers and websites. A piece

of news would be introduced in its rudimentary nature without explanation, elaborationof economic terms, or reference to the appropriate background or historical context. Thiskind of news would also fail to mention the rami cations or consequences of an eco-nomic event for the society as a whole. According to this approach, reporters covered bythis study would use reports from news agencies or press statements sent by ministries,state-run or private companies, without adding any explanation, contacting specialized

persons such as experts or economic analysts to elaborate on the news item.

Chart No. (5)

This table shows the difference between newspapers and websites in terms of explanationof news coverage.

2. It was also evident from the analysis of economic content in newspapers and web-sites covered by this study- that it lacked both supportive arguments and supportingevidence, whereby 85.5% of reports were lacking these arguments and supporting evi-dence, compared with only 14.5% well-sourced reports, which increases the shallow-ness of reporting on economic affairs.


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Chart No. (6)

The extent to which arguments and evidence are available in reports

Balance and impartiality in covering economic news:Study results show that news websites are more impartial than newspapers; patterns of partyaf liation were most pronounced in the case of al Watan and Hurriya wal Adala news-

papers. This included bias by omission, bias through mixing news and opinion, opiniondisguised by news and bias by selection of sources. For instance, results of the analysis ofeconomic reporting by the Hurriya wal Adala newspaper and Ikhwan Online website showthat all sources used are related to the Muslim Brotherhood and/or their political or ideologicalsupporters. As a result, reporting takes a regime-backing character. This is why Hurriya wal

Adala and Ikhwan Online present economic news mostly in a positive light.

Table No. (4)

NO News outlet

Element of Balanceal Akhbar al Watan Hurriyawal Adala

AkhbarMasry Masrawy

IkhwanOnline

1 Balanced 17% 16.7% 13.7% 5.1% 11.8% 2.2%

2 Unidenti ed 50% 57.4% 49.3% 70.9% 70.6% 80%

3 Unbalanced 32.9% 25.9% 37% 23.9% 17.6% 17.8%

This table shows to what extent newspapers and websites are committed to impartiality in the presentation of their economic news.

Regarding the element of balance in the economic reporting of newspapers and websites,al Akhbar came out strongest in maintaining impartiality (17.1%), followed by al Watan(16.7) and Hurriya wal Adala (13.7%). With the news websites, Masrawy came rst (11.8%),followed by Akhbar Masr (5.1%) and Ikhwan Online (2.2%). For this study, news was de-ned as Balanced if it re ected all points of view and as. Unidenti ed in case thecontext had no con ict of interest


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Hurriya wal Adalas reporting on the Orascom s con ict with the Taxation Authority was an

example of partial and unbalanced coverage, mixing news with political opinions. This includ-ed the decision to assign half of its front page and a full page inside to this con ict; the choice ofheadlines and photos and the biased and partial presentation of the case. It also quoted workerscomments out of context, distorted facts and spread false allegations about the Sawiris brothersand their relationships with workers.

The Front Page of al Watan

Hurriya wal Adala

al Akhbar


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The use of layout and graphic design:

1. Photos were not put to good use in websites in comparison with the importance of press photos in newspaper journalism. Most of the photos used were from news archive or im-ages (examples: a companys logo, image of a bank or bourse headquarters). Moreover,the used photos were not updated and the same photos may be used more than onceduring the period of analysis.

2. Charts or gures were not used in all economic news content included in this study,either by newspapers or websites.

3. Typographic elements (frames, backgrounds and photos) were used in a starkly politi-cized way. For instance, al Watan (which published negative news more than positiveones) resorted to present news with colored frames, backgrounds and images or all theseelements together. The same was done by Hurriya wal Adala newspaper, but only tohighlight positive news.

Chart No. (7)

Colors Pictures, Frames, grounds

The use of interactivity and online media tools:

1. Interactive elements were not used in a way that made the best use of new technologies,associated with the new media.

2. From among the news websites included in the analysis, Akhbar Masr organized the best interactivity with its readers on its economic content.


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Chart No. (8)

1- Masrawy was remarkable with the continuous and systematic use of hyperlinks. Howev-er, some links were irrelevant to the original piece of news. For instance, the website pub-lished a piece of news entitled calls for cancellation of protection fees on imported cottontextiles, quoting Minister Hatem Saleh, then the link at the bottom of the main report wasabout a statement by Minister Saleh. But the link was irrelevant to the content of the newreport. The only thing in common between the two reports was Minister Saleh as a source.

Chart No. (9)

Masrawy was remarkable in that there is a special archive for each report on a daily basis,through a link to Todays news category. Akhbar Masr makes it possible to get back toreports throughout former pages. Older reports can be reached through their date of publish-ing. Ikhwan Online do not provide an archive for older reports or a way to search for areport on economic affairs that was previously published.


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The Opinion of Experts:The following are the most notable expert opinions on the coverage of economic news in theEgyptian press and websites; they reaf rm the ndings in this research study:

Media coverage of economic news is generally focusing on news items and not on othergenres of journalism. Coverage is shallow and lacks the explanation and analysis neededto assist the average reader understand economic news and its rami cations and the wayin which it affects his/her life and welfare. The way economic news is covered alsolacks the explanation of economic terms and concepts; any historical and or contextual

background of events. In an in-depth interview with Mohsen Adel, the economic expertadded that there is confusion in economic terms used.

Mohsen Adel and well-known economic journalist Wael Gamal both pointed out thatreporters often repeat the same serious mistake in their coverage on the stock market:expressions like the stock market loses, or the bourse gains, are commonly used innews reports. The experts explained that the stock market does not lose or gain; whathappens at the stock market is nothing more than a change in the market capital and g-ures traded all over the day are nothing other than paper values that do not re ect lossesor gains. If some mistakes in reporting on economic news may be acceptable due tothe lack of specialization - the stock market is sensitive and perilous, so such mistakesshould not be made. Moreover, reports often depend on the wrong source of informa-tion, explained Wael Gamal. An economic reporter, he adds, does not resort to the con-cerned person or of cial, but instead turns to another source which is not authorized to

speak on the issue, given the critical and sensitive nature of economic issues. Both economists also agreed that economic reporting is marred by inaccuracies in infor-

mation and sources. Mohsen Adel added that this was because the Access to InformationLaw is yet to be implemented. This denies reporters the chance to get a clear historical

background on a large number of economic issues, Adel said.

Furthermore Mohsen Adel suggested that there should be more attention for Arab andinternational economic news, to reciprocate the attention that other Arab countries giveto news about economic developments in Egypt,

Recommendations: Economic reporting should pay more attention to the needs and interests of their readers

and assist them in explaining economic issues and form opinions on importance of thenews and the possible impact on Egyptian society and daily life of Egyptians.

Newspapers could maybe create a daily page on economic news and make efforts tomake this news more interesting and relevant to their readers. This will likely change the

prevailing culture of newspapers to focus on political news and neglect economic news.

News media should strengthen the knowledge and understanding of their economic reporters and journalists in the elds of laws related to the economy, stock markets and

economic/business editing. They should also develop and sharpen analytical and ex- planatory skills of their journalists.


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Maintaining to good journalism standards, such as mentioning the source, whether it

was a news agency or a press statement, will also help to promote quality.

Editorial news should be completely separated from advertising. For instance, al Akh- bar publishes advertisements on a full page titled Banks and Investments, withoutmentioning that the content is a paid advertisement, which is a violation of the law orga-nizing journalism work.

The use of multimedia and interactive tools should be given more attention in the eco-nomic news reports of websites. The world is now heading towards integrated journal-ism, making full bene t of all technological capabilities in one piece of news.

Finally, this research study highly recommends that more research and follow-up studies be conducted in order to shed more in-depth analysis into the causes and implications ofinadequate economic news reporting in Egyptian newspapers and websites.