Association of private news companies is established amid skepticism

The owners of seven private newspapers convened a meeting on Saturday to establish the “Chamber of Private Press Industries,” and begin the process of registering this new body under the umbrella of the Egyptian Federation of Industries.

The following news companies are part of the new association: Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al-Watan, Al-Osbou, Youm7, Al-Mal, Al-Bawaba, and Al-Sabah.

Two of Egypt’s largest privately owned companies have not yet joined the chamber, namely Al-Shorouk and Al-Tahrir.

The General Manager of Al-Masry Al-Youm, Fathy Abu Hattab, told Mada Masr that, while the chief-editor of Al-Tahrir Newspaper (Ibrahim Mansour) and Al-Shorouk’s editor-in-chief (Emad al-Din Hussein) attended Saturday’s meeting, they did not sign the chamber’s founding statement. Their decision is pending further technical details regarding the new association, as well as required consultation with their company executives before signing.

Abu Hattab added that the objective of the Chamber of Private Press Industries is to investigate the problems affecting privately owned newspapers, including printing, distribution, and commercial advertising.

He dismissed claims that the new chamber would be involved in determining the editorial policies, professional regulations, or employee-related issues of the affiliated newspapers.  

“Al-Masry Al-Youm’s perspective, which we will strive to realize within this chamber, is not that of determining labor relations concerning journalists, this is the role of the Journalists Syndicate. Nor does it involve determining the editorial policies of each newspaper.”  

Journalist and publisher Hesham Qassem commented that the establishment of an independent chamber of industry for private newspapers is a positive step. However, he added that the chamber’s founding statement should clarify the details of what exactly members will work on.

There are questions regarding the extent to which the chamber could potentially act as a conduit for some businessmen to expand their influence over the newspaper industry.

Qassem referred to genuine problems affecting media companies in Egypt. “Al-Masry Al-Youm was the first institution to formulate guidelines for editorial policies pertaining to news coverage. Other private institutions followed suit, by superficially adopting similar guidelines.

“This heightened the sense of popular news coverage. Yet it was also a very dangerous development, as it led to a sort of media meltdown.”

Qassem added: “Businessmen in this industry have suffered from a crisis related to commercial advertisements. Under the pretext of the policies they witnessed with the advent of Saudi Arabia’s (private satellite channel) MBC Egypt, they similarly sought to adopt a policy of advertising monopolies.”

This indicates that the companies involved will not be able to administer the new chamber of industry in the manner they have announced.” 

There are genuine fears amongst journalists, who regard the establishment of an association of newspaper owners as a threat to the rights and interests of the employees who work for these publications.

According to Hesham Fouad, a member of the Front to Defend Journalists and the Rights of Citizens, the establishment of this chamber of industry comes at a time of important changes for media companies.

Fouad explained that traditionally, the state-owned newspapers and party-owned newspapers have exerted a great deal of influence on readers and public opinion. The state used to control these institutions through its Supreme Council for Journalism. With the decline in the role of this state-appointed body, and the ascending role of private institutions, there emerged a need to unite all of these private owners under one entity.

“This is taking place within the same framework of last month’s [October 26] meeting of the chief editors of private newspapers to determine their editorial policies… whereby they pledged to align themselves with the ruling political regime.” 

Fouad added: “In accordance with the law of the Journalists Syndicate, an employer cannot fire employees without first consulting the syndicate, but this does not happen.”

“There is an increase in the number of journalists who are being punitively sacked from media institutions. It is in light of these conditions that the Chamber of Private Press Industries has been established; to protect the economic interests of the newspaper owners against the interests of journalists and editors.”

There are a variety of responses and reactions regarding the establishment of this new chamber of industries, from supporters, opponents and skeptics.

This may be attributed to the lack of clarity regarding the new chamber’s specific objectives and measures, and a host of new laws being formulated to control access to information and limit the coverage of news pertaining to Egypt’s Armed Forces in the nation’s press.                      

It remains to be seen whether the policies and measures taken by this new chamber will be limited to economics, or whether they will also affect employment regulations and editorial policies regarding journalists.