Coverage focuses on high school exams, violence in Palestine CAIRO: The Thanaweya Amma finals, the World Cup and the newest court order in the infamous MP loans case dominated news throughout the week. Meanwhile, state-run newspapers and their opposition counterparts were running contradictory news about the new judiciary law. Thanaweya Amma, the term for the final two years of Egyptian high school, battled with World Cup news for front page spots. Pictures of students and parents in tears or students anxiously revising before exams became regular features in all newspapers. Some exams were described as too difficult and others reportedly contained mistakes. Writers, regardless of affiliations, criticized what they described as the annual nightmare. In Al-Gomhuria, Mohamed Ali Ibrahim dedicated his daily article to describing the plight of students and their parents and the faults in the exams and overall system. He wrote that all students, regardless of social or economic class, are equally frightened by the Thanaweya Amma ogre. Their parents aren t less anxious or worried. Ibrahim criticized official announcements that the average student could answer 90 percent of questions and only 10 percent were meant for outstanding ones. Referring to personal experience, he said these statements are anything but true. They create confusion among students and parents, he added. They increase the depth of the gap between the government and the people, Ibrahim explained. If there is no trust between the citizen and officials, there is no need for this to be passed to the students and the new generations, which are supposed to change their idea about the government and feel mutual trust. But unfortunately, trust in the government recedes because of the too-optimistic statements. But this wasn t the only problem occupying newspaper editors and readers. The fact that state television didn t buy the rights to show the World Cup games created many discussions. In Al-Wafd, Fouad Fawaz supported the government s decision not to pay millions to broadcast the games. But this support was conditioned on the government s true intentions. If the decision was really taken in abidance with policies dictating a cut back on unnecessary expenditures, then Fawaz was ready to back the government. But if these money-saving policies, he continued, are applied to certain sectors and discarded in others then the decision is rejected. In Al-Masry Al-Youm, Mohamed Salah commented on the issue in a sarcastic tone, referring to the National Democratic Party s deal with Arab Radio and Television (ART), the network with regional broadcast rights for the World Cup, to show the games on a big screen at the party s offices. Salah said while all opposition forces are concerned with appearances (violence against demonstrators, corruption cases, unemployment-inducing policies), they overlook the party s new ideology. Citizens, he continued sarcastically, got a taste of this new ideology when they were allowed to watch the games at the party s different branches. The party made people s dreams of watching the [World Cup] true, Salah added. Throughout the week, all front pages featured colorful updates of the World Cup. They appeared side by side with news of the rising violence in the Palestinian territories and local news. Whole pages were dedicated to the coverage of the popular tournament even though the Egyptian team hadn't qualified to join. At the same time, newspapers published conflicting news regarding the new judiciary law that was approved by ministers. Al-Wafd said the judges were angry with the law because it didn t address their demands. The Judges Club, the paper reported, is discussing an escalated response. Al-Gomhuria on the other hand, wrote that the Judges Club sent a thank-you letter to President Hosni Mubarak for his efforts in resolving the crisis. Al-Wafd reported that in this letter, the judges made a request to the president that they be allowed to check the draft law before the ministers council passes it to the parliament. An old case resurfaced this week, dominating editorials: parliament members/businessmen who were accused of not repaying bank loans, also known as the Loan s MPs. The court had recently ruled that these MPs were innocent of the charges that were pressed 11 years ago. The bank employees who were accused of giving loans without guarantees were also found innocent. Who is responsible for the injustice [suffered by] the defendants in the Loans MPs case? wrote Salah Monatasser in Al Ahram. He pointed to the official authorities that investigated and put the case together, the judiciary system that came out with conflicting rulings over 11 years and the media that prosecuted the defendants through commentary and headlines.
