Several independent newspapers in Egypt have been suffering a severe financial crisis that led some of them to shut down. Meanwhile, journalists at three other independent newspapers, namely Al-Dostour, Al-Tahrir and Al-Sabah, have been battling for lost financial rights. They formed a “Salvation Front” aimed at protecting them from what they call “the merciless dominance of capital” and its control over the press industry. The three newspapers are threatened with closure. Osama Ezzeddin, board chairman of Al-Sabah newspaper, declared five days ago that the paper would be halted for at least five weeks until a new chief editor is hired. Wael Al-Ibrashi, the paper's chief editor, lately submitted his resignation. Wael Lotfi, the executive editor, was dismissed as a result of an economic crisis. Economic crisis has been the stated reason behind the closure of two other newspapers. About 150 journalists, from the three newspapers, held a meeting Sunday at the Press Syndicate, during which they decided to form a front that would be responsible for communicating with the syndicate's council. Most of the journalists working at the three newspapers are not officially appointed. They called upon the syndicate to take action towards registering them as members in syndicate lists. They also underlined the role of the syndicate in communicating with their respective administrations on legally established working relationships. In this way, they would guarantee their rights to fair pay and job security. In their statement, recently released, they also highlighted that the current problems are a result of the bad climate in private newspapers. “Capitalism has the upper hand over the management of the newspapers. Moreover, the reliance on “people of trust” instead of people of efficiency was the core of all the problems,” read the statement. The front called for urgent and radical change in the laws regulating the press industry to allow for thorough control within private newspapers so as to guarantee the continuation of newspapers, limiting the ability of owners to close down newspaper outlets whenever it suits them. “We demand the syndicate act as an arbiter between journalists and their press institutions,” the statement added. For its part, the Press Syndicate acknowledges that the situation is desperate within private newspapers. However, it finds itself powerless to resolve this predicament. “The journalism market has a lot of problems as it is unstructured and even became distorted,” Gamal Fahmi, syndicate undersecretary, told Al-Ahram Weekly. “Like slums, the press market is growing in a random manner. Nevertheless, the syndicate is not an authority in itself, and even it has no solutions to reorganise the irregular status of the journalism market,” Fahmi stated. In the last two months, the private daily newspaper Youm7 announced that it would raise its print edition's price from LE1 to LE1.5. For journalists and media analysts, Youm7's decision — which followed similar price increases for independent papers Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Watan, with Al-Shorouk planning also to raise prices — came as no surprise. Given the falling Egyptian pound, reduced advertising revenues and a changing readership, private newspapers, already losing money on each copy sold, have been forced to make the change. This week, the 50th edition of Egypt Independent, an English-language weekly newspaper and sister paper of the Arabic-language Al-Masry Al-Youm, was blocked from going to press for the same stated reason. Due to losses in 2012, Al-Masry Al-Youm decided to shut down its recently established weekly magazine, Al-Siyassy, along Egypt Independent's news website and weekly print edition. “There is a dire need for establishing a new system governing and codifying the freedoms and guarantees to the rights of journalists through the enactment of new laws,” Fahmi said. Asking Fahmi about the reason why the syndicate is not taking action, while acknowledging the deteriorating conditions within the private press industry, by proposing a draft law to restructure and regulate the private press sector, he replied: “To whom should we propose it? To the Shura Council, whose legitimacy is questioned?” Hisham Kassem, founder of Al-Masry Al-Youm and Cairo Times, rebuffed the idea of enacting new laws that would obligate owners of private newspapers to give guarantees to journalists. “Compelling the papers' owners to pay for journalists in case of its financial loss or even its closure will drive business out and keep businessmen wary of further investment in the industry,” Kassem told the Weekly. “It only can be done in two cases: in state-owned newspapers, which the ruling regime exploits to improve its image among the public, regardless of its financial losses; or in a private newspaper whose owner utilises it to reinforce his political or business muscle,” Kassem added. For Kassem, investors approach papers mainly as a prestige project, aiming to have it finance itself, not to turn it into a profitable investment. Consequently, he says, investors adopt a policy in which a steady stream of revenue is prioritised over the continued growth of the paper. “I don't believe in such a vision, and hence in order to adjust the equation, I believe in the saying that there is no press freedom without a business plan,” he said. Fahmi also believes that one of the main reasons behind the recent crises is that publishers of private newspapers are not specialists or even journalists, and hence “[running] their papers only as a method to strengthen their influence”. Under stress, he said, owners will give priority to economic solvency.
