Arab citizens, especially the Egyptians, escape from Arab terrestrial channels and resort to satellite ones. In fact, this is a plight, Media experts said, describing the official Arab media as bad. This came during a conference organized by the International Center for Political and Future Studies under the name "The role and effect of satellite channels on public opinion tendencies". The private media turned into a "second power" in light of the state's control over the official media as well as judiciary and legislative authorities.
People escape to satellite channels for several reasons" retreat of the state's role, absence of political action channels in Egypt, and lack of confidence in official channels, journalist and writer Youssef Al-Qa'eed said. This has led to the emergence of what is called the policy of circumvention to watch these channels by any means, such as buying a receiver which works once it is directed to the transmission dishes. In addition, people – even the poorest ones - subscribe in what is called "Wasla"; they pay LE25 monthly and watch satellite channels including coded ones, he said. The Egyptians have been watching Arab and foreign satellite channels, especially over the last 30 years, to check the authenticity of the news as said in the official media, media man Hafez Al-Mirazi said. For his part, Al-Kahera newspaper editor in chief Salah Eissa warned against satellite channels' serious effects on regional and local public opinions, especially in countries suffering from cultural, intellectual and political illiteracy. He described the Arab media over the last six decades as "bad" because it has been blindly taking the side of the government. This has led to the appearance of anti-state owned media, he adds, pointing out that this has deprived the viewers of the capacity to make their own choices away from these two fronts.
