Egypt's parliament will discuss on Sunday three new draft laws drawn up by the cabinet to regulate the Supreme Council of the Media, the National Media Authority, and the National Press Authority, the head of parliament's media committee Osama Heikal said in a meeting with parliamentary reporters of national newspapers. Heikal said that the government had originally submitted a single draft law regulating all three bodies, but parliament's media committee recommended that it be divided into three separate laws for each body. Heikal added that the previous law regulating the three bodies (the Law of Institutional Organisation No. 92 of 2016) will be replaced by the new laws. The MP explained that the new laws would reduce the number of members from 13 to nine for each of the three bodies, and that the editors-in-chief of state newspapers will operate independently from the chairmen of the board of their respective media organisations. Heikal added that the laws also include unprecedented guarantees to ensure the independence of journalism and media in Egypt. The parliament's draft laws would also cancel all text regarding the imprisonment of journalists and media professionals that were part of the cabinet's proposed law. According to Heikal, the draft laws have been reviewed by the Supreme Council of the Media, the National Press Authority, the National Media Authority, the Journalists Syndicate, the Media Syndicate, the Competition Protection and Antitrust Authority, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority and the Chamber of the Media Industry.
