November 28th, 2010 by Jason

Bahey eldin Hassan writes at Foreign Policy’s Middle East Channel that “one of the brightest spots” in Egyptian political life over the past decade has been the “emergence of a freer media climate and more open public discourse on political issues.” These advances are now under threat, however, because the Egyptian government “has turned the entire media scene upside down, forcing it to abandon critical discourse and uproot real political debate from the electoral coverage.” According to Hassan, the government has formed a “special security-media team,” meant to compile a “list” of the most influential  “columnists, independent papers, news channels, [and] heated political talk shows,” in order to silence them. “Following the proverb that says strike whoever is in reach and those roaming free will fear,” television stations have been taken off the air, talk shows have been canceled, and the editor of Al Dostor, Ibrahim Eissa, was fired. Hassan links the “wave of repression” to the effect that the parliamentary elections will have on next year’s presidential election.

Posted in Civil Society, Egypt, Elections, Freedom, Journalism, Middle Eastern Media |