Newsbook

AFTER two and a half weeks covering the protests against the government, Egypt's newspapers told a new story on Saturday.

"The people have brought down the regime" declared al-Ahram, generally seen as the mouthpiece of the ruling National Democratic Party. The headline echoes the chants of Egyptian protesters, "the people want to bring down the regime" and marks a remarkable U-turn in the editorial stance of Egypt's second oldest daily newspaper. On January 26th, after the first day of protests across Egypt which saw violent clashes between police and protesters, al-Ahram devoted much of its front page to the headline "Flowers and chocolates for the Police on Police Day". After the fall of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's former president, al-Ahram changed its tune, saying that "the youth of Egypt forces Mubarak to leave" and "Egyptians celebrate until the early hours over their victory in the first popular revolution in their history."

Al-Ahram's sister newspaper, the similarly pro-regime al-Ahram al-Massa'i, looked to the future, with a picture of flag-waving youths under the headline "A New Era".

Other state-run media took a different tack. One weekly newspaper, Akhbar al-Youm, featured a photo of a waving Mr Mubarak along with the title "Mubarak has left". The main body of the page was patriotically devoted to a photo montage of the crowds in Tahrir Square and the Egyptian army: "Our armed forces: We are the People". Akhbar al-Youm also highlights the army's new role in Egypt: "the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces mandated to administer affairs of state".

Egypt's independent media, critical of the regime long before protests started on January 15th, led with images of the jubilant scenes in Tahrir Square following the announcement by Omar Suleiman that Mr Mubarak had stepped down as president.

Al-Shorouk, an independent daily, declared that "the people were victorious". Al-Shorouk also plays on the popular anti-government chant that has characterised these protests with its headline, "the people want to build a new regime", reporting a new sense of national pride: "The first chants after the success of the revolution were 'Lift up your head, you are Egyptian!'"

Meanwhile the popular daily, al-Masry al-Youm, strikes a more sombre tone, leading with photographs of ten of those killed during the course of the protests, with the line, n colloquial Egyptian Arabic: "If I die, don't cry mother: I die so that my country might live". Beneath their photos is the image of Tahrir Square, fireworks of celebration in the night sky behind and the words "The people wanted to bring down the regime, and they have done so".

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