By Safaa Abdoun
This year is marked by a fierce crackdown on media which activists have deemed a loss of freedom of expression. Most of these crackdowns took place during the two months leading up to the parliamentary elections in November.
Interestingly, 2010 started out with an unexpected turn of events for Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network when President Hosni Mubarak stepped in and ordered programming on the network to continue despite its financial disputes with Cairo Media City. The news was announced on Amr Adib’s talk show “Al-Qahera Al-Youm” (Cairo Today).
Cairo Media City had ordered the shutdown of the offices of Orbit and its studios which are located on its premises saying that the network did not pay over LE 15 million of debts even though they have sent them a number of warnings.
The move made the outspoken Adib, who is known for his heavy criticism of the government and prominent figures in Egypt’s ruling the National Democratic Party, to hail the president saying, “There are problems between Cairo Media City and Orbit. Who is right and who is wrong is not the issue here, but someone took advantage of the situation to silence our voices. However, chivalry and courage is when a man named Mohamed Hosni Mubarak steps in, and this is a trivial matter compared to others, and says ‘These people can’t be silenced, they have to keep on talking’.”
Adib’s optimism was soon dampened; in September his show went off the air and all live programming was stopped when Cairo Media City ordered shut the offices and studios as the network failed to make all the required payments.
In press statements, officials from the Orbit network insisted that all payments were ready but for some reason the Media Production City were refusing to take them so that they would resume operation.
“We told them we issued checks for LE 5 million which cover our dues as of Sept. 8 but they refused to take them,” Orbit’s Financial Manager, Felix Sarhan, told independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, at the time.
“This is not a problem between two companies; I believe there is a higher authority behind the scenes,” he added.
Following in tow, in October, outspoken opposition journalist, Ibrahim Eissa, was fired from his position as editor-in-chief of Al-Dostor newspaper, right after his television show on a private satellite channel was put to a halt.
“The regime is making a clear statement, instead of preventing vote rigging they are silencing talking about it … I feel sorry for the Egyptian press and media,” Eissa told the press at the time.
Furthermore, outspoken novelist, Alaa Al-Aswany, left the independent newspaper Al-Shorouk, after he was reportedly pressured by the editors to soften his tone and critique of the regime. Al-Aswany, who used to always end his column with the phrase “Democracy is the solution,” will be launching an official website on which he’ll publish his columns.
The crackdown on the media by the authorities intensified when the Head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), Osama El Sheikh, ordered to stop the sports commentator, Alaa Sadek, from presenting shows on the terrestrial channels after he criticized the Ministry of Interior Affairs on his show “Shadows and Lights.”
Sadek made comments on his show on clashes between supporters of Egypt’s Al-Ahly and Tunisia’s ESperance during a game at Cairo Stadium, during which a civil security officer sustained serious head injuries and multiple fractures.
He specifically addressed the security forces of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and its minister, saying, “I wish the Ministry of Interior Affairs would come out and apologize to the Egyptian citizen who was an easy prey to the fans of the Tunisian Esperance.”
“Minister of Interior, Habib El Adly, has to interrogate his men from the security forces as they hold full responsibility for what happened to the poor police officer,” he said.
“The security forces left the citizen, Haitham Salah El Sayed, like a deer for the hungry tigers and he became an easy prey … the security is first and foremost responsible in this incident,” he added.
Sadek explained that he was practicing his right as a media figure and expressing his opinion.
The series of governmental decisions to further impose restrictions on the media continued when the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology requested that nine television channels which offer live programming from Egypt to relocate all their live broadcasting units to the state-owned Media Production City as a condition to renew their licenses.
In the same week, the Egyptian Investments Authority ordered four satellite television channels to stop broadcasting for violating the license agreement with the Media Free Zone.
Television channels Al Khalijia, Al Hafez, Al Siha Wal Gamal and Al Nas, all owned by Al Baraheen Group, stopped broadcasting. The violations were related to presenting fatwas, religious edicts, by uncertified people and discussing other content such as alternative medicine.
Satellite television channels On TV and Al Fara’een also received warnings from the authority for violating the license agreement.
Makram Mohamed Ahmed, head of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, was surprised at all the decisions that were coming out in “wholesale” without any consideration whatsoever of the timing, that coincided with the parliamentary elections and the presidential elections next year.
“The reasons that are given whether to stop these channels from broadcasting or the owners of a newspaper firing a journalist could all be valid and verifiable, however all of them coming at the same time especially since there is an atmosphere of speculation and doubt is what makes it surprising, ” he explained.
“It’s hard for me to call this a trend of crackdown on the media in Egypt but also because of the timing I can’t help but speculate if it is … and I’m sure this is what’s going on in every citizen’s mind,” Ahmed pointed out.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) released a press statement condemning the “restriction on media freedom” in Egypt as they considered all the recent events “steps in the clear path of absolute loyalty to the government or absolute silence.”
“The government has gone hysterical over limiting freedom of expression.
It is a drastic retreat to the days before 2005 when the calls for the long missed democracy and reforms started. Hundreds of bloggers and journalists paid dearly for their call as well as thousands of activists who were jailed or tortured. The steps achieved were no grant from the government or had their blessings,” stated ANHRI.
