On the eve of 2008 Egyptian private satellite channels like Dream and El Mehwer interviewed experts to forecast the future of Egyptian media.
These channels were concerned about their accountability and their commitment to the truth, which, they believe, is the main asset to attract larger audiences.
Being close to the ordinary person on the street, tackling hot issues and discussing local issues are the main reasons behind the success of many programs on those private channels.
What then is the future of national state-run TV in Egypt if the audience has migrated shifted towards private channels?
Despite political reforms and constitutional amendments allegedly aiming to promote democratization and good governance which was somehow reflected in the media sector through hard-hitting programs which challenge the official discourse, all state-run terrestrial channels still come under the government’s authority, which puts into question issues of reliability and credibility.
The lack of distinguished and creative content leads to the loss of viewers and programs that try to appeal to the widest audience range to ensure high quality programming are seriously lacking.
Relying mainly on advertising revenues and government funding delays and hampers the possibility of the producing this necessary type of creative content.
Although the funding helps reduce the production cost for producers and circumvents the need to pay a license fee by viewers, it is a threat editorial independence. The government has the power to cut subsidies if a channel challenges it or tackles issues it regards as being subversive or a threat to public order.
Hense the recent Palestinian breach of Egyptian borders through the Rafah crossing and the contentious European Parliament resolution criticizing Egypt’s human rights record were tackled differently on national channels and on satellite ones.
This is the case with many developing countries where the government has the power to interfere. Latvia, for instance, which recently transformed from a state-owned broadcasting system to public service broadcasting, depends mainly on state subsidies, and so the government interferes in the content making it difficult to attract audience.
Dependence on advertising revenues is another threat to editorial independence and the creation of distinguished programming.
Advertisements are a form of competitive behaviour, where firms spend huge amounts of money to convince consumer to buy their products and increase sales. The more the advertisement positively affects the purchasing patterns of consumers, the more the firm will pay to the television station to maintain its influence on consumers. In a way this is a virtuous circle because the more money the station receives, the better the quality of the programs and the larger the audience it will attract and the higher the profitability.
But this system does not necessarily encourage the broadcaster to have viewer’s welfare in mind; on the contrary, it may focus on the provision of programs that attract large amounts of audience, yet ignore the importance of diversifying sources to serve the public interest.
Today in Egypt must try to build a media model that ensures independence from the government. One idea is to have citizens to pay license fees to help fund programs they prefer to watch. This way the broadcaster will be accountable to the audience and not to the advertisers or the government.
Rasha Allamis a Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication specialised in media management.
