It was almost 10pm when Ahmed Hassan ran into the Nile News Channel newsroom to inform the on-air anchor that Paris had been hit by a multi-sited terrorist attack and that dozens of people had been killed. “I suggested that we should send a crew to Paris to cover the event but, as usual, the answer was ‘no' since we had stopped sending crews to cover events abroad, because of budget constraints,” Hassan said. It was from the 27-floor building, located along the banks of the Nile in Cairo and named after the famous Egyptologist, Gaston Maspero, that the first television broadcasts in the Middle East and North Africa were produced. Starting from the 1960s, Maspero was the pioneer of broadcasting in the Arab world. Most of the region's Arabic TV networks were later established by Egyptians who had worked at Maspero. Today, the state channels that broadcast from Maspero are not even among the top 50 stations in the Arab world, in terms of viewership, according to Ipsos, the market researcher that conducts surveys on public opinion across the country. The Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), the body that runs the Maspero broadcasting service, has 16 TV channels and 14 radio stations. Official numbers released by the ERTU say it has 35,000 employees: 6,000 are editorial staff, 13,000 work in the Administrational Security Division and 16,000 in the Technical Assistance Division. “We know we are behind in ratings but we are in the process of developing Maspero to get back its audience and play the role that we used to play for decades,” Essam Al-Amir, the head of ERTU, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Al-Amir and his team of experts are now working to produce a comprehensive strategy that includes measures to reform ERTU and modernise the broadcasting service in the coming three years.
HISTORY SAYS IT ALL: Throughout its history, Maspero has been viewed as the government mouthpiece, rather than a state-sponsored media institution that promotes free, transparent and professional media such as the BBC or Voice of America, said Heba Shahin, head of the media department at the Faculty of Arts at Ain Shams University. It was then-president Gamal Abdel-Nasser's idea to use mass media to reach the Egyptian people “everywhere across the country.” In his speech inaugurating Egyptian state TV, Nasser said it was an important modern means to disseminate public information and educational materials to build awareness among Egypt's citizens. At the time, Egypt state TV was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and National Guidance, and managed by the Egyptian Broadcasting Authority, which a few years later became ERTU. Nasser's presidency was remembered for Sawt Al-Arab (Voice of the Arabs), the radio station that was used as a powerful propaganda tool. Sawt Al-Arab began on 4 July 1953, one year after the 1952 Revolution, as a half-hour show on Cairo Radio. Within a few years later, the show had developed into its own radio station and broadcast for 24 hours of every day, with transmissions that reached almost all Arab countries. According to the memoirs of its founder, Ahmed Said, Sawt Al-Arab was one of the most powerful medium in Arab history. Its services played “a significant role in changing the map of Arab politics in 1950s, creating the concept of Arab nationalism and marked the real beginning of media politics in the Arab world.” Sawt Al-Arab quickly spread to all the countries that Nasser wanted to have influence in. The station supported the Arab struggle for independence, promoted Palestinian resistance and liberation in Africa. “It was an intellectual tool with the aim of influencing world events. It became a regional phenomenon in the Arab world by establishing the concept of Arab nationalism and promoting Arab causes against Western aggression,” Said wrote in his memoirs. With a new president, Maspero changed. Anwar Al-Sadat, who succeeded Nasser, adopted a new policy that embraced Western liberal ideas. More Western programmes were broadcast on the main Egyptian channel, including American movies. During the same period, Egyptian TV switched to colour television. During Sadat's time, Egypt had one million television sets; the number rose to four million by the end of 1988. After succeeding Sadat, Hosni Mubarak decentralised Maspero. In 1985 he launched a new channel that covered only Cairo. By 1995, the number of channels had increased to eight, with almost every region having its own channel. One channel was devoted to the Canal governorates (Ismailia, Port Said and Suez) and another channel for Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city. The Delta was also given a channel, while two local channels were established to cover Upper Egypt governorates. In 1998, ERTU launched what it called “specialised channels.” This included broadcasting ten new channels, among them Nile News, Nile Live, Nile Variety, Nile Drama, Nile Family, Nile Culture, Nile Sports and Nile Education. The move to increase the number of channels led to the hiring of more staff, increasing ERTU's budget to LE2 billion in 2002. At the time, the satellite station Dream TV started to broadcast from Cairo with entertainment and talks shows. More new Arab channels, including MBC and ART, started to attract Egyptian viewers who quickly abandoned Egyptian state channels. In a move to restore its lost viewership, then-Minister of Information Anas Al-Feki, who was also a leading member of the now-dissolved National Democratic Party (NDP), joined with the private sector to produce Al-Beit Baitek, a daily talk show that was given more freedom to criticise the government. The show played the role until 2010 when the ruling NDP turned the show into its mouthpiece, in particular, using its broadcasts to promote Mubarak's son Gamal. Maspero lost whatever remaining credibility it had after the start of the 2011 January Revolution. None of the state TV channels broadcast any news about the nationwide anti-Mubarak demonstrations that swept the country. In the 18 days before Mubarak stepped down, state TV showed live footage of calm, empty streets while hundreds of thousands of protesters occupied Tahrir Square — just a stone throw's away from Maspero. State TV claimed that foreigners with hidden agendas were instigating the protests. A significant change in tone for Maspero appeared on 11 February 2011 when Channel 1 aired former vice-president Omar Suleiman's brief announcement that Mubarak was stepping down. All of the state TV channels then started to broadcast from Tahrir and aired victory songs that hailed Mubarak's ouster.
UNABLE TO COMPETE: Since their launched, the Nile channels could not compete with Egypt's private TV and Arab networks. People wanting news went to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabya instead of Nile News, which has few offices outside of Egypt. Nile News coverage primarily focussed on protocol news, reporting on the president's activities as well as some international coverage using wire agency reports. “The lack of credibility and the weakness of coverage of pressing domestic issues that impact Egyptian citizens isolated Egyptian TV from the public,” said Heba Shahine. Ehab Fawzi, a senior director at Nile News, claims the channel has a very professional staff that could work in any big news networks like BBC and Sky News Arabia. “We have young people full of enthusiasm and new ideas but nobody listens to them or even notices that they are here,” he said. Fawzi added that a new head for the channel was hired this year and is working hard to renew it and introduce new programmes. Amr Al-Shenawi, the head of Nile News, is “an excellent leader, but is facing many challenges, including the budget,” Fawzi said. On the fourth floor of Maspero, Al-Shenawi was sitting at his desk following up with his team's preparations to cover the first session of the newly elected parliament. “My team is working hard to compete with private satellite channels, even though we are operating on a shoestring budget,” Al-Shenawi told the Weekly. Nile News channels have only two streaming devices that could be used to broadcast live from the field. A privately owned news channel like CBC Extra has 30 devices that can broadcast live from all the governorates at the same time. Al-Shenawi said that Nile News is currently preparing to launch a new set of programmes in cooperation with an advertisement agency that he says will help increase revenues.
A NEW BEGINNING?: The debate over reforming Maspero centres around several stages of restructuring. Budget details recently released by the government illustrate the crisis Maspero is passing through. According to the prime minister office, Maspero's expenses total around LE6 billion, with revenues of just LE1.7 billion. Out of the money, LE3.2 billion is given to salaries in addition LE1 billion for bonuses to employees. Less than LE10 million is being spent on training and development. “Spending on salaries is the most pressing problem in Maspero. Currently we are preparing a new reform plan that will maximise revenues in order to cover the deficit,” Al-Amir said. But ERTU still has more employees than it needs. Does Al-Amir intend to lay off workers? “We do not have such a plan. A few years ago the number of employees was 43,000; now it's 32,000. By 2020 it will drop to 16,000,” Al-Amir said. Al-Amir is counting on a large number of employees to retire over the coming five years. When asked if ERTU may need to hire professionals to inject fresh blood, Al-Amir said the reform plan includes training courses for all the departments to help employees meet international broadcasting standards. Additionally, Maspero is expecting a new law that will govern ERTU. A draft has been finalised and will be discussed by the newly elected parliament in the coming months. “It is not easy to change or reform this body before changing the mentality of its employees who for decades have been coming just to spend their working hours and get paid at the end of the month, regardless of the quality of their work,” said Islam Mohamed, a senior producer at Al-Masria channel. “In such an environment, where creativity and enthusiasm are absent, there can be very little development,” Mohamed said.
