Mubarak of course has been known to
Egyptian journalists as the president of Egypt for the last thirty years.
However, the word Mubarak also signified to most journalists a red line, a
limit that shall not be crossed. Criticizing Mubarak openly and attacking the
way he ruled the country were not an option for the majority of Egyptian
journalists. Even though freedom of
speech might have not been as curtailed as it is in most of the Gulf countries
nowadays, the name Mubarak certainly was not one to be dragged into the mud.
Today, we live in a time where everything
seems possible: dictators were brought down by the people; the military leaders
of Myanmar seem to be warming up towards the idea of granting their citizens
more rights, after the death of Kim Jung Il even North Korea might get a chance
to reconsider its past and start with a clean slate.
However, no need to get too excited too
soon. In a time where everything seems possible, freedom of the press should be
one of the easiest things to attain.
That much established, can we possibly talk about a revolution that has
taken place in the Egyptian media sphere over the last 12 months, or did the
revolution stop dead in its tracks before entering Egypt’s printing and
publishing houses?
Once we get a closer look at the state of
freedom of the press in Egypt, the picture we get has a quite sobering effect
on our previously exhilarated minds. One thing becomes clear, with Mubarak
gone, the red line of today’s news reporting has become the ruling military
council, known under the name of SCAF.
Only a few days ago, the prominent
talk-show host Reem Maged as well as her guest Hossam el- Hamalawy, known to be
a n activist and journalist, had to appear in front of the SCAF who accused
them of portraying lies about the military council. Maged and Hamalawy had
expressed concern that the SCAF who tries to portray itself as going hand in
hand with the people and protecting the revolution for their own good, had
actually physically attacked protestors.
On top of that, not only local journalists
and activists fall victim to the SCAF, only last Saturday, the Australian
journalists Austin Mackell along with his Egytian translator Aliya Alwi were
arrested by the military while covering a general strike in the city of
Mahalla.
Joseph Mayton on bikyamasr.com commented
the case of Mackell and Alwi in the following: “Now, my colleagues are being
taken to a military prosecutor and could face an illegal military trial for
doing their job. For attempting to show the world the truth. This is the face
of SCAF. They have lost all credibility and their stalwart attempts to paint
foreigners, and especially journalists, as the enemy of the revolution, must
come to an end. […] Without their removal from power, journalism is dead; the
revolution is dead.”
If one were to argue that this article so
far has been solely based on observations and subjective experiences, here is a
number that should make Egyptians as well as the rest of the world worry:
According to the latest Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without
Borders, Egypt has since the beginning of the revolution fallen 39 places and
now lands on rank number 166, on par with countries like Cuba.
It is time that Egypt again protects the
right by its citizens and most of all journalists to seek the truth, to
question and of course, to disagree. It
is time for a revolution of the press.
