November 22nd, 2010 by Evan

NPR’s Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson began a weeklong series examining life in Egypt ahead of the country’s parliamentary election on Monday. The first installment focuses on growing discontent with the Mubarak Administration: “Not all Egyptians are in favor of Mubarak staying in power. A growing number of them are fed up living in what they see as a police state under his iron-fisted rule and in a country whose economy has failed to lift enough people out of poverty,” Sarhaddi Nelson writes. Much of the discontent stems from widespread corruption and police brutality. “Like many Egyptians of his generation, 29-year-old Ahmad Maher has a different view of life in Egypt today. The construction engineer says he could fill books with descriptions of everything that is wrong with Egypt after three decades of Mubarak’s rule. He complains that no one in government is accountable to the public,” she reports.

Posted in Egypt, Elections, Human Rights, Journalism | Comment »

November 22nd, 2010 by Jason

Bahey el-din Hassan writes in Al Masry Al Youm that civil society and human rights organizations face three major challenges in monitoring Egypt’s November 28 elections: First, the groups must obtain permits from the High Elections Commission (HEC), a process that has become increasingly opaque. “Although the HEC set 7 November as the deadline for human rights groups to submit applications to monitor elections, it set no date for the issuance of permits,” he writes. Also, the HEC “mandates that monitors be impartial, but how can the commission, with its limited resources, evaluate thousands of monitors for bias? Or is it planning to outsource the job to the security apparatus?” The second major hurdle for groups is a lack of accurate information, a problem exacerbated by the “deplorable state” of the HEC itself. The third challenge are the restrictions placed on the press. “The regime launched a quiet coup in October that restructured TV and print media and placed enormous restrictions on the free flow of information. This means that election monitors will do their job in the dark,” according to Hassan.

Al Masry Al Youm also reports that the head of the HEC, Al-Sayed Abdel Aziz, has now “definitively” stated that “there would be ‘no monitoring’ of Sunday’s parliamentary elections, stressing that the role of civil society and human rights organizations would be limited to ‘following’ the elections rather than ‘monitoring’ them.”

Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Human Rights, Journalism, Middle Eastern Media, NGOs | Comment »

November 22nd, 2010 by Evan

Kuwaiti lawyer and blogger Mohammad Abdul Qadir Al Jasem was sentenced to one in year in prison after he was found guilty of defaming Kuwait’s Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Subah. Earlier this year, Al Jasem was detained for six weeks on charges that he had harmed Kuwait’s national interests by criticizing the Al-Sabah regime. Also, Reporters Without Boards recently released reports condemning the arrest and trial of 18-year-old blogger and women’s rights activist Navid Mohebbi in Iran and the court martial of blogger Ahmed Hassan Basiouny in Egypt.

Posted in Egypt, Human Rights, Iran, Journalism, Kuwait | Comment »

November 18th, 2010 by Evan

Maati Monjib, a Moroccan political analyst, has a new article in the Carnegie Endowment’s Arab Reform Bulletin on the Moroccan government’s recent crackdown on independent and foreign media outlets. The regime has become adept at “using roundabout means to portray targeted newspapers or journalists as having violated the law, morals, sacred taboos, or national values,” Monjib writes. On the other hand, officials encourage the formation of government-friendly private media groups. Foreign media outlets have not been immune to government pressure. Al Jazeera and AFP have both had issues registering journalists and maintaining offices in Rabat. According to Monjib, the crackdown is the government’s response to the “increasingly prominent political role” the independent press has played in recent years.

Posted in Journalism, Morocco | Comment »

November 10th, 2010 by Anna

In an interview with David Lepeska in the Columbia Journalism Review, Egyptian journalist Ibrahim Eissa notes that in an effort to control  Al Dostor, the government has filed lawsuits, imprisoned Eissa, and threatened the paper’s publishers with millions of pounds in taxes. After finally taking over the paper, Al Dostor is now “a pet newspaper.” He states that although there was a period of increasing media freedom in Egypt during the Bush administration, “Now the Egyptian government seems to have gotten the green light from the Obama administration to go back to the way they were before.” In “not pressuring Mubarak at all,” Obama ignores the possibility that “society is going to implode on itself and destroy those regimes.”

Regarding the upcoming elections, Eissa says: “[m]y sense is there’s going to be a lot of fraud.” He also predicts that Western media outlets will not be allowed to access polling stations during the upcoming parliamentary elections, a strategy that the regime will likely repeat during the presidential race next year. Without an independent media, Egyptians cannot hold their government accountable, and since opposition parties in Egypt “do not speak out,” the media has taken on that role. “The people want change,” Eissa says, but politicians are not pushing for it.

For more news and analysis on Egypt, sign up for the Egypt Daily Update.

Posted in Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Journalism, Political Parties, US foreign policy, US media | Comment »

November 10th, 2010 by Anna

Ian Black reports in the Guardian today that the BBC will resume broadcasting in Iran after an 18-month lapse. Its correspondent Jon Leyne was asked to leave in June 2009 during the post-election unrest, and the government accused him of organizing the shooting of protester Neda Agha-Soltani. Some observers have interpreted the agreement to return British journalists to the country as a “slight thaw” in Iran’s relations with the West. Former Beijing correspondent James Reynolds will take the position in Tehran.

As Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports, however, opposition programming in Iran may be weak. One blogger (Persian) is skeptical that the Green Movement’s new satellite TV channel, called “Rasa,” will attract a substantial audience. Although its programming is “interesting,” the channel “is producing only one to two hours of weak programs everyday. Also, it’s available through Telstar [satellite], which can’t be accessed by many people.”

Posted in Iran, Journalism | Comment »

November 8th, 2010 by Anna

Authorities in Libya have reportedly arrested 10 journalists affiliated with the Al Ghad media group. The agency was founded by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (the reform-oriented son of Muammar Gaddafi), who has been openly critical of the government’s conservative old guard. The agency reported: “[The detention] was carried out by the Internal Security Agency on Friday evening, violating the law on the promotion of freedom … and all international norms and conventions signed by Libya.” The arrests come as Saif al-Islam Gaddafi has become increasingly critical of the Libyan government, calling it inept and nonexistent.

Last week, the print version of the weekly Oea newspaper (also part of Al Ghad) was blocked after publishing an article that urged a “final assault” on the government for its failure to address corruption.

Posted in Freedom, Journalism, Libya | Comment »

November 5th, 2010 by Anna

Earlier this week, staff from the Egyptian daily Al Dostor announced that they will continue to publish material on their website, which they have renamed “The Real Al Dostor.” The domain name for the site is registered under Ibrahim Eissa’s name – as such, it will maintain the same editorial policy as the original paper, according to the site’s managing editor Hesham Obia. Al Masry Al Youm reports that about 37 former writers for Al Dostor will contribute stories to the online version, and Eissa is reportedly paying them out of his own pocket while the team searches for sponsors. The newspaper’s former managing editor, Ibrahim Manour, confirmed that the group plans to launch a print version “as soon as we get a new license.”

Posted in Egypt, Journalism, Middle Eastern Media, Technology | Comment »

November 5th, 2010 by Anna

In the Washington Post today, Egyptian finance minister and member of parliament Youssef Boutros-Ghali responds to recent criticisms of the Egyptian government. Boutros-Ghali contends that Egypt’s economic growth “has helped make Egyptian civil society the most dynamic in the Middle East.” He cites the sizeable number of independent satellite broadcasters, publications, bloggers, and opposition papers as evidence that “Egypt is a different country from the one it was five years ago,” and calls the country “a regional trendsetter.” Boutros-Ghali also highlights increased women’s representation in public positions. Regarding “the imperfections in our political system,” he argues that “[t]he fact that Egyptians are having open discussions about the upcoming elections, government performance, poverty and even the president is proof of a healthy political space.” Moreover, he depicts the alternative to the ruling National Democratic Party as attempting to  “steer the country…toward greater fundamentalism.” Boutros-Ghali points out that U.S-Egypt relations are increasingly built on trade and investment, and contends that “an economically developed and politically stable Egypt will improve America’s security and help to create the foundations of a prosperous and stable Middle East.”

For more information on news on Egypt, sign up for POMED’s Egypt Daily Update.

Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Freedom, Journalism, US foreign policy | Comment »

November 1st, 2010 by Evan

Posted in Journalism, Judiciary, Technology, Turkey | Comment »

November 1st, 2010 by Anna

The Moroccan government reportedly suspended Al Jazeera’s service in the country on Friday, a move the satellite television network condemned. The government charged the network with deviating from accepted standards of journalism, adding that its “refusal to be objective and impartial systematically tarnishes Morocco’s image.” One unnamed official stated that the government objected to “the way Al Jazeera handles the issues of Islamists and Western Sahara,” where over 2,000 Islamists have been detained since 2003.

Magda Abu Fadil, director of the Journalism Training Program at the American University of Beirut, writes at Huffington Post that “[r]un-ins with Arab governments have been a trademark of the channel, whose motto ‘the opinion, and opposite opinion,’ has often landed it in hot water in a region where personality cults and state-run media are standard fare.” Al Jazeera got in a spat with the Jordanian government last month over the jamming of World Cup broadcasting, and officials in Cairo have criticized the network’s editorial policies and “anti-Egyptian reports,” according to Abu Fadil.

Posted in Journalism, Middle Eastern Media, Morocco | Comment »

October 29th, 2010 by Anna

In a piece for the Weekly Standard’s blog, Kelley Currie, a fellow with the Project 2049 Institute, responded to Jackson Diehl’s column on the State Department’s failure to direct fund technology to circumvent firewalls. Currie writes that she “share[s] Diehl’s frustration with the poverty of the State Department’s efforts” but argues that “there are in fact good reasons these funds should be directed elsewhere.” She points out that the problem is not merely access, and that “circumvention technology is relatively cheap and widely available.” The broader problem is repressive governments give Internet users “just enough online freedom to keep them from feeling constrained” and do not rely just on blocking content to achieve control. 

Currie concludes that “[g]iven this broader context, it is clear that the Internet freedom initiatives under consideration by the U.S. and other democracies to date are well-intentioned but woefully inadequate and poorly matched to the actual scope and nature of the problem they are intended to address.” She calls efforts that focus on anti-blocking tools “fundamentally misplaced” and calls for greater attention to be paid to these new authoritarian tactics.

Posted in Freedom, Journalism, Terrorism, US foreign policy | Comment »

October 28th, 2010 by Anna

Wafd Party leader Al-Sayed Al-Badawy, who took over Al Dostour newspaper earlier this month, has reportedly offered the paper’s former chief editor Ibrahim Eissa a position writing for the party’s newspaper, Al-Wafd. In addition, Al Masry Al Youm reports, Eissa will be allowed to host a talk show the Al-Hayat satellite television channel, focusing on political issues. Al-Badawy owns the channel. Meanwhile, a group of Al Dostour reporters continue to strike, demanding that the newspaper’s editorial policy be upheld and that their salaries be raised. Makram Mohamed Ahmed, the Journalists Syndicate president, warned that he will “personally join them if the paper’s new owner moves to dismiss any of them.”

For more information on this and other news on Egypt, sign up for POMED’s Egypt Daily Update.

Posted in Egypt, Journalism | Comment »

October 28th, 2010 by Anna

An article in The Economist today highlights new restrictions on satellite television and other forms of media in Egypt. The government recently tightened controls over the state-owned Nilesat satellite channels, which broadcast various news programs, religious and lifestyle channels, and other programming. To some extent, the crackdown seems to be in response to an uptick in programming voicing support for conservative Salafist parties. However, the restrictions fit within a broader context of tightening media control in the region, according to the article. The Egyptian government, for example, “has taken subtle measures to regain controls over the media that had slipped in recent years, [which] range from new licensing requirements for the upload of video footage via its satellites, to quiet warnings to media owners to mute dissident voices.” Many observers suspect that these moves are meant to enhance government control over the media in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in November. Although, as the article notes, “Egypt’s press remains relatively free compared with that of its Arab neighbours” (the country moved up in this year’s “Reporters Without Borders” annual index of world press freedom), the satellite clampdown is cause for concern.

Posted in Egypt, Freedom, Journalism, Technology | Comment »

October 26th, 2010 by Evan

Posted in Journalism, Turkey | Comment »

October 25th, 2010 by Evan

Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released a report criticizing the Tunisian government’s repression of trade and student unions. Despite official statements to the contrary, HRW found that Tunisian officials regularly deny the groups legal status and attempt to persecute and subvert their leadership. HRW also reports that abuse and torture remain widespread in Tunisia.

Posted in Freedom, Journalism, Protests, Reform, Tunisia, Unions | Comment »

October 25th, 2010 by Anna

Golnaz Esfandiari at Radio Free Europe follows up on last week’s reports that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Iranians to report on his trip to Qom through photo and video footage, which has been published on his website. IRNA, Iran’s state news agency, has also been encouraging (Farsi) citizen journalism, asking average Iranians to become “honorary journalist[s]” by reporting on events they see in their communities. Esfandiari predicts that “the citizen journalism the Iranian establishment is promoting is likely to be tightly monitored and subject to censorship.”

Also related to censorship, Iranian leaders announced a review of university curricula on Sunday. Abolfazl Hassani, head of Education Development at the Ministry of Education, reportedly said: “Expansion of 12 disciplines in the social sciences like law, women’s studies, human rights, management, sociology, philosophy….psychology and political sciences will be reviewed,” in part because they have been deemed too “Western.” New university departments in these fields will not be permitted, and existing curricula will be “revised,” according to Reuters.

Posted in Iran, Journalism, Technology | Comment »

October 21st, 2010 by Evan

Al Jazeera reports that Egyptian authorities shut down 12 more private television channels on Tuesday for allegedly violating the terms of their broadcast licenses.  Egyptian Information Minister Annas el-Fiqi  said that the move by NileSat, Egypt’s main satellite operator, was a “corrective measure” necessary to protect viewers. Meanwhile on Egypt’s most popular talk show, Masr ElNaharda, commentators with close ties to the government suggested banning or passing laws to regulate Facebook. At The Guardian’s Comment is Free Osama Diab writes, “The suggestion of a ban on Facebook shows that the regime is worried of any medium that shows real trends and statistics in Egypt that they have no control over. It’s also because the regime is definitely losing the Facebook numbers game; it’s hard to imagine that Mokhtar [a commentator on Masr ElNaharda] would have still suggested control over the social network if it was President Hosni Mubarak who got a quarter of a million fans on his page rather than ElBaradei.”

Posted in Egypt, Elections, Journalism, Middle Eastern Media, Technology | Comment »

October 20th, 2010 by Jason

Daoud Kuttab, writing at the Huffington Post, describes an all too rare moment in Jordanian politics. Hamza Al Soud, of Radio al Balad, asked Odeh Kawas, a candidate for parliament and human rights activist, “Are you in favor of a constitutional change that will allow prime minister’s to be elected and would curtail the King’s power’s to dissolve the parliament?” Kawas answered by saying that constitutional changes should be studied by an “elected group of experienced thinkers,” but that he does agree “that the prime minister should be elected and not appointed and that the King’s power to dissolve the parliament should be curtailed.” Kuttab notes that this kind of candor is unusual in Jordan. The debate is one of a series being held in Jordan prior to the November 9 parliamentary elections.

Posted in Civil Society, Elections, Freedom, Jordan, Journalism, Political Parties | Comment »

October 19th, 2010 by Evan

Egyptian journalist continued to protest the firing of Al-Dostor editor Ibrahim Eissa yesterday at the Higher Press Council’s headquarters. The protesters are calling on the new owner of Al-Dostor, Reda Edward, to meet their demands, which include the reinstatement of Eissa and executive chief editor Ibrahim Mansour. According to the journalists, Eissa’s sacking was planned by Edward and Wafd party chairman Sayed Badawi, who is also a co-owner of Al-Dostor, long before the recent crackdown on press freedom in Egypt began. “‘It was just a matter of time before Badawi and Edward got rid of Issa. The approaching elections hastened their decision but it was going to happen sooner or later,’” Al-Dostor journalist Hazem Fouad told the Los Angeles Times.

Posted in Egypt, Journalism, Middle Eastern Media | Comment »