I received a phone call last Saturday morning from Shura Council [Egypt's upper chamber of parliament] Speaker and former Minister of Information Safwat al-Sharif, who blamed me for a phrase in the last article saying: "al-Sharif made the Egyptians think that Egypt had a media pioneering and the brightest times of democracy at a time when there was no democracy." Al-Sharif left no opportunity, as usual, for dialogue and blamed me for the term "made the Egyptians believe", as this means that he deluded and deceived the Egyptians and, accordingly, should be brought to book. He stressed that the media pioneering was not an illusion and that the Ministry of Information under his leadership achieved many goals, including the spread of TV broadcasting to the entire Egyptian territory, the launch of the first Arab satellite channel and of the first channels in English and French, the establishment of the largest network of regional stations and of the Media Production City, the launch of the first satellite, the establishment of information offices, and the launch of "Dream" and "Al-Mehwar" TV channels. I asked al-Sharif: If you describe your era as Minister of Information as the brightest times of democracy, how would you call the current period, which is witnessing real democracy? He said: "Democracy is a relative term and there was a plurality of parties. We were planting democracy in the hearts of people. We should always plant hope in their hearts and we should always want more. I acted seriously and I have never lied to anyone. We have launched difficult campaigns so that Egypt could remain a giant."
I asked him again: If you made information infrastructure in Egypt, aren't you sad about the Egyptian media's stance on the Israeli aggression on Gaza? He said: "All Arab countries only have private channels, while Egypt has great media capabilities that should be taken into consideration."
I said: "But you haven't answered my question." He said: "I'm happy because the Egyptian media has succeeded. I worked in the media from 1974 to 2004." Protesting again against the phrase "made the Egyptians believe", al-Sharif said: "When Egypt is a source of culture, doesn't this mean being pioneering? In general, whoever says he's a pioneer and doesn't actually act as such is committing a crime against Egypt."
Al-Sharif refused to comment directly on the performance of current Minister of Information Anas al-Fiqi. Al-Sharif proved that, regardless of whether people agree or disagree with him, he is a shrewd politician and a veteran media man. If all these Egyptian networks, stations and media fail to be on an equal footing with Arab channels, this means there are, of course, problems in the content, the human cadres, the vision and the management.
