The minister of information met the heads of political parties, reports Reem Leila On 8 September the newly appointed Minister of Information Salah Abdel-Maqsoud held a three-hour meeting with 39 heads and representatives of political parties during which he discussed possible methodologies for reviving and reforming the country's media. During the meeting, Abdel-Maqsoud stressed the importance of freedom of expression "which is guaranteed for everyone". The meeting is the beginning of a series of regular gatherings in which all political currents, civil society organisations, popular coalitions and media unions are to attend to conceptualise the media's role "during this important era in Egypt's contemporary history". The meetings will also play an important part in discussing possible means of restoring Egypt's leading role among Arab and African countries. The minister told participants that their fears of the Islamising of state-owned newspapers, national TV and radio are groundless. "The government media era is over, and the official media will represent the people's voice," said Abdel-Maqsoud. The country's official media will adopt a new concept based on the 25 January Revolution goals concerning freedom of opinion and expression as well as the right to access information. The ministry's new policy stems from the belief that "we are all partners in the media," said Abdel-Maqsoud. At the same time, the minister pointed out that libel and defamation were unacceptable by a state-owned institution or private. Mustafa Sherdi, deputy head of the Wafd Party, condemned a request by some representatives of certain political affiliations to allocate specific time on TV for them to communicate with the public. "Such requests will lead to the dominance of certain political currents who will disseminate their ideas and concepts to the detriment of other political parties. The media should belong to the people and not the government whatever its affiliation is," Sherdi argued. Sherdi also expressed concern regarding the government's insistence on imposing its control over the media. "In such a scenario, the people's fears regarding Islamisation of the media would be true," he added. Abdel-Maqsoud denied such allocations. "No doubt the situation in Egypt now has changed a lot from what it was during the previous regime. And the coming era will witness a strict assessment of each programme, denying any programme allocations for the sake of a certain political affiliation," said he. In this regard, Osama Shaltout, head of the Social Solidarity Party, stated there was no harm in providing each political party equal space and time in the media in order to introduce themselves to the public, "especially that there are now more than 70 parties in the political arena," said Shaltout. In a relevant context, Abdel-Maqsoud denied reports stating that the former presidential candidate Khaled Ali is banned from appearing on TV. "Such reports are void of truth. Neither he nor any other citizen, no matter his political affiliation, will be banned from appearing on any TV show," said Abdel-Maqsoud. Abdel-Maqsoud pointed out that the formation of the Supreme Press Council (SPC) did not witness any violations. "It was formed according to the law. The law will be changed later after the approval of the country's new constitution. Accordingly, the formation will be reviewed," the minister said. "For the time being, people and critics should give the SPC the opportunity to do their job. Then, we can evaluate their performance," he added. He also denied banning any writer at the newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm from writing. "It was all due to inter administrative and financial reasons. The writers were costing the association over LE50,000 per month which it considered too much. Akhbar Al-Youm is currently calling on writers to freelance for it for free," revealed Abdel-Maqsoud. During the meeting, Essam El-Erian, representing the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), requested the annulment of the Information Ministry, and that the current minister "be the last minister". El-Erian urged the government to consider the French experience as well as that of other foreign countries in improving the official media. "The information entity could be affiliated to the Cabinet or presidency. At the same time regular training should be provided media cadres in order to guarantee better performance," said El-Erian. Taiseer Fahmi, head of the Equality and Development Party, suggested selling the TV building Maspero to pay the accumulating debts of the Information Ministry and transfer the country's official media to Egypt City for Media Production. Farida Al-Naqqash, deputy head of the Tagammu Party, expressed concern regarding the appearance of veiled female anchors. "I fear they might be privileged over those unveiled," she said. At the end of the meeting Abdel-Maqsoud tried to allay fears. "We are witnessing a new era. We have learnt the lesson and comprehended it. No way will we repeat the past mistakes. On the contrary we will work on rectifying them so that people would enjoy their independent official media."
