Al-Sisi′s Egypt Hopes for a free press fading

Source:
Qantara.de
Date of source:
30 Sep 2015
"Introducing swingeing new fines, the Egyptian government is coming down increasingly hard on journalists and publications determined to assert their right to freedom of expression. Tow the line or leave the country is the impression formed by many." Excerpts of an article written by Ingy Salama with comments of Cornelis Hulsman.
 

"According to the new law, journalists will have to pay between 200,000 and 500,000 Egyptian pounds (€ 23,000 - € 57,000) for disseminating ″false″ information that contradicts the official version of events. The law also punishes anyone who promotes ″ideas″ advocating terrorism with five years in prison."

Cornelis Hulsman: There is hate language, calling for violence. Should the government let that go?

"The government has a history of putting pressure on Egyptian and international media, and that pressure is increasing. The Foreign Ministry has issued instructions to foreign reporters, listing terms they should and should not use. It objects to expressions like ″jihadists″ or ″fundamentalists″ and wants journalists to write ″slaughterers″ and ″assassins″ instead. With support from iMediaEthics, a New York-based non-profit organisation, the governmental State Information Service (SIS) instructed foreign journalists to make their reports match those of the Defence Ministry."

Cornelis Hulsman: I have been a correspondent in Egypt since 1994 and served as secretary-general of the Cairo Foreign Press Association between 2003 and 2009. If instructions would have been issued to "foreign reporters" I would have seen this. The SIS instructing "foreign journalists" to make their reports match those of the Defence Ministry? I have not seen this but true I have also not been reporting about the fights in northern Sinai but the reporter would have done well of less generalizing formulations had been used.

 

Hulsman wrote Qantara the following response on Oct 5:

I am not claiming that Egypt is an ideal country but I would have wished Ingy Salama would have given some context and had made less sweeping statements.

Context: Cairo based Danish Journalist Flemming Weiss Andersen wrote an excellent report on hate language that do nothing else but whipping up people to hate and respond accordingly. Is Ingy Salama of the opinion that the government should let this go?

The following statement of Ingy Salama is VERY generalizing: "The government has a history of putting pressure on Egyptian and international media, and that pressure is increasing. The Foreign Ministry has issued instructions to foreign reporters, listing terms they should and should not use. It objects to expressions like ″jihadists″ or ″fundamentalists″ and wants journalists to write ″slaughterers″ and ″assassins″ instead. With support from iMediaEthics, a New York-based non-profit organisation, the governmental State Information Service (SIS) instructed foreign journalists to make their reports match those of the Defence Ministry."

I have been a correspondent in Egypt since 1994 and served as secretary-general of the Cairo Foreign Press Association between 2003 and 2009. If instructions would have been issued to "foreign reporters" I would have seen this. The SIS instructing "foreign journalists" to make their reports match those of the Defence Ministry? I have not seen this but true I have also not been reporting about the fights in northern Sinai but Ingy Salama would have done well to use less generalizing formulations.

Has iMediaEthics given support to the SIS to instruct journalists to report inline with the Ministry of Defense? Where is this claim based on? We are coming out with a report on iMediaEthics within days but it is the first time I have seen this allegation.

A German intern with us is working on a report on journalists in prison.

I have followed Qantara from its start and we have also had some exchanges in the past. Qantara's work is good but this text of Ingy Salama is disappointing. 

 

 

Add new comment

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <b> <br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.