CAIRO: The Egyptian government sacked editors and officials of several state-owned newspapers on Wednesday, a move long awaited by activists and demonstrators who participated in Egypt's January 25 Revolution. Many have called for a purge of state media and dismissing the editors who represent the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak, especially over the media's role in inciting fear and misinformation during the revolution. The most prominent changes took place at Egypt's Al-Ahram Institution, founded in 1875. The Editor-in-Chief of its daily newspaper, Osama Saraya, was removed from his position. Saraya is a member of the formerly ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), and a staunch Mubarak loyalist. He was replaced by Abdel Azim Hamad, the former editor of an independent newspaper and a prominent political commentator for Al-Ahram. The reshuffle included 18 other newspaper editors and senior managers, including six major state media publishing houses, newspapers, and MENA news agency. The coalition of the youth has repeatedly called for the dismissal of all the officials of state-owned institution, who, according to the coalition, misled the Egyptian public during the 18-day uprising that led to the ouster of Mubarak, through playing down the scale of protests and depicting the demonstrators as agents of several foreign countries, including the U.S., Israel, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and others. Demonstrators were also depicted as vandals who are applying foreign agendas. The misinformation led to the targeting of protesters by thugs who called themselves pro-Mubarak and NDP. Dozens of pages on Facebook had demanded a boycott of Al-Ahram until Saraya stepped down. However, despite the calls for his resignation on Facebook and by journalists and employees of Al-Ahram, Saraya refused to resign. A statement by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said, “The restructuring of Egypt's media sector comes along with the spirit of change and as a response to the demands of the current phase Egypt is witnessing,” Reuters reported. The statement said Egypt was working to build a free, democratic society based on social justice. Media played an “important role in this precise phase.” Other changes affected Al-Messa, Gomhoriya, Al-Akhbar, Dar El-Hilal, Dar El-Tahrir, Roza Al Yousef, and MENA news agency. BM
