MEDIA-EGYPT: By Law, Some Editors Retire At Last

By Adam Morrow Reprint | | Print |

Adam Morrow

CAIRO, Jul 15 2005 (IPS) - In what has been called the biggest shake-up to Egypt’s state-run print media in recent history, the Higher Press Council in early July appointed a host of new chairmen to the biggest government-owned publishing houses, and replaced longstanding editors-in-chief of the most widely distributed national newspapers.

The move had been expected, but opinions vary as to what effect the changes will have on the quality – and credibility – of the state’s print media institutions.

The government announced Jul. 4 that the heads of the three biggest national publishing houses – Al-Ahram, Akhbar Al-Youm and Al Tahrir – would be replaced by younger appointees. The government’s "big three" dailies – Al-Ahram, Al-Akbar and Al-Gomhouriya – all received new editors-in-chief.

The upper management at a number of other, smaller-circulation publications was subject to similarly sweeping changes. "In yesterday’s session, the Shura Council (the consultative house of parliament)… agreed on the general committee’s nominations for the appointment of administrative chairmen and editors-in-chief of national newspapers and magazines," Al-Ahram reported on the day of the announcement.

Print media in Egypt has been traditionally dominated by the three massive state-owned publishing houses, each of which maintains a distinctive identity while generally toeing the government line. Each house claims to circulate between about 900,000 and 1 million copies daily of its flagship newspaper domestically (with a few thousand distributed abroad), although unofficial reports from within the industry suggest that the true figures may be lower.

The move also uncoupled the position of editor-in-chief from that of chairman, in an effort to separate the editorial and administrative processes. The septuagenarian Ibrahim Nafie, chairman of the Al-Ahram publishing house and editor-in-chief of its flagship daily was replaced by Salah El-Ghamri, 63, as chairman. Osama Saraya, 53, took the position of head editor of the newspaper.

Safwat El-Sherif, chairman of the Shura Council and its affiliated press council, was quoted in state media as saying that the move was "especially important in big press organisations with highly valuable assets and diversified commercial and economic activities."

The lengthy tenures of the former editorial chiefs – most of whom had passed the mandatory age of retirement set by laws governing state media institutions – had been the subject of longstanding criticism. Al-Ahram’s Nafie was appointed in 1979 under former president Anwar Sadat. "These guys were dinosaurs," said the editor of an independent weekly magazine.

Journalists working for the state press expressed their relief over the changing of the guard. "All these guys were in, or close to their 70s," said a reporter at one of the big three government papers. "It was time they left."

In 2003, two journalists from two of the government’s leading broadsheets went so far as to file a lawsuit with the country’s top administrative court demanding their chiefs be replaced for exceeding retirement age.

Newly-appointed Al-Ahram head Saraya says this was a major reason for the shake-up. "There were legal reasons (for the new appointments), because all the ex-editors had passed the retirement age," he told IPS. "It had to change, according to law."

Observers are quick to note, however, that the younger replacements all come from within the state media establishment. El-Ghamri had been chairman of the government-run National Distribution Company, while Saraya was editor-in-chief of state-run weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi.

"The newcomers are still within the system – none have come from the opposition or independent press," Hussein Amin, professor and chairman of the Journalism and Mass Communications Department at the American University of Cairo told IPS.

The move can also be seen within the context of the struggle between the government’s "old guard" and a younger, reformist faction personified by President Hosni Mubarak’s son, Gamal, whose presidential ambitions have been the source of conjecture ever since his 2002 appointment as head of parliament’s influential policies secretariat.

The reshuffle is part of a wider campaign aimed at measured political reform, for which many will see the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year as a litmus test, said Amin. "When the president is setting the stage for real elections, it doesn’t make sense to have members of the old guard maintaining these important media positions."

Al-Ahram’s Saraya spoke of the managerial changes as part of "a new concept of administration" in which younger people will be sought to fill administrative posts. "It’s important to understand the changing atmosphere in Egypt," he said. "The recent replacements at the publishing houses are part of this change… After the coming elections, I think all the old people (in leading administrative positions) in Egypt will disappear."

Some observers also suggest that the recent emergence of credible independent Arabic-language dailies such as Al-Masri Al-Youm and Nehidat Misr forced the state press to reform itself, much as Arabic-language satellite news stations such as Qatar-based Al-Jazeera forced state-run television to improve its news reporting.

"In many cases, superior coverage in the new independent dailies made government papers look bad," said Issandr El Amrani, managing editor of Cairo magazine, an independent English-language weekly. The shoddy coverage by the state press of May’s national referendum on constitutional change was a recent example, he said.

Hisham Kassem, vice-chairman of Al-Masry Al-Youm, which launched its first issue last year, agreed. "The appearance of more independent press is creating a problem," he said. "The state media is realising that the carpet is being pulled from under its feet."

Expectations differ on the effect the personnel changes will have on the quality of government print media, traditionally seen as state propaganda. Amin says the younger blood is bound to bring some improvement. "These newcomers are coming with a freer, more independent approach than their predecessors," he said. "News coverage should therefore be more credible than before."

Ihab Hamdy, managing director of a private, Cairo-based business research company, was similarly optimistic. "I think the newcomers will give us more credible news coverage. In terms of media, people’s standards are higher than they were before."

According to Kassem, however, the state press will continue to serve the interests of the ruling regime, regardless of its managers’ relative youth. "The new chiefs will be just as loyal (to the political leadership) as the ones before," he said. "Maybe they can make some professional improvements, but these media organisations will continue to be nothing more than production lines."