By Salama A Salama There is something about alleged upcoming changes that suggests that the entire issue of information is up for discussion. Following the election of Safwat El-Sherif as Shura Council speaker after 22 years in the post of information minister the word was out that the Information Ministry might be dissolved. It is time to come up with a modern information system, one that goes with the spirit of our times. We need a media that mirrors public concerns, encourages freedom of expression, combats ignorance and fanaticism and promotes democracy and human rights. We are ready for radical change. Since the end of WWII, ministries of information disappeared in democratic countries. They were replaced with semi-independent corporations that supervise limited sectors of information and left the state room only to propagate its programmes and policies through one or two radio and television stations. The state will still have its own information office to convey its official views, and the latter should coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when dealing with foreign correspondents. The rest of the media should be left for competition, private initiative and investors capable of handling artistic, media and marketing activities of all forms. Of course, we will need a law that regulates the activities of television and radio networks -- without interference from the state and without a certain political line imposed upon them. This, of course, assumes the existence of a democratic system that guarantees transparency and freedom, that allows for the rotation of power, that recognises the media as an independent activity and a constitutional right -- the right of the public to know. This may all seem theoretical or even impractical, because we have a situation in which vested interests and centres of power have taken control of radio and television agencies -- the backbone of the Ministry of Information. It would not be easy to dispose of the dull multitudes of semi-employed staff who have swollen the ranks of state-guided media for so long; who have driven it down the hackneyed path of ineptitude, who have failed to compete even remotely with modern Arab satellite networks. This is why the Egyptian Radio and Television Broadcasting Corporation should be an independent agency with an independent budget and board of directors. It should have a board of trustees made up of people with excellent and upstanding credentials as legal, religious, educational and media experts. Such a board should set down professional regulations and criteria. Similar arrangements are already in place in France, the UK and Germany. None of this can be achieved without changing press, publication and media laws. Prison sentences should be scrapped, with the rights and responsibilities of journalists, in written and broadcast media, defined in an unambiguous manner. Journalists should do their best to verify the news, remain committed to professional codes of honour and show respect for national security and societal norms. Meanwhile, papers should be issued freely and multimedia companies should come onto the scene. We need a true revolution in the media and the abolition of the Information Ministry is just the first step -- for the ministry in question has hindered advancement in this crucial sector for decades. We need to set up a higher council for audio, video and multimedia. Such a council should sponsor media studies and get involved in determining the ethical and legal standards of the profession. It may also be empowered to give licences and arbitrate disputes. Without changing the current media situation, it is hard to speak of any real political reform.
