CAIRO: A number of prominent publishers announced Wednesday the launch of the Egyptian Federation of Newspaper Publishers, with the aim to defend the interests of print media and rid the industry of monopoly and restrictions on freedom of expression. The federation is spearheaded by three daily independent newspaper publishers, Ibrahim El-Moalem, publisher of Al-Shorouk Al-Gadid, Sherif Abdel-Wadoud, managing director of Al-Masry Al-Youm, and Hazem Sherif, editor-in-chief and managing director of Al-Mal. “The federation adopted the ‘liberation of mass media' paper that was presented by the January 25 Revolution Youth Coalition to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which includes eight principles,” Hazem Sherif told Daily News Egypt. Those principles include, but are not limited to, the freedom to publish newspapers without getting permits from security entities and other authorities, the independence of media, the cancellation of prison sentences in publishing crimes and the separation of management from ownership. “Ten years ago there were [almost] no newspapers operating outside the government spectrum,” Sherif said, adding that the process of establishing independent newspapers started to grow fuelled by large investments. According to the federation's founding statement, the call for forming such an entity goes in line with the values and principles of the revolution, whose pillars include the creation of a democratic system where individuals have the freedom to establish political parties as well as independent syndicates and federations that represent the interests of different social groups. The federation plans to hold a meeting that will bring together representatives and publishers of all Egyptian newspapers holding local or offshore licenses, to set rules, goals and decide on membership criteria. Meanwhile, the federation founders agreed to form a legal committee to examine the press law and start a dialogue with political parties in a bid to draft new legislation. Before the revolution, print media was controlled by the Higher Press Council, affiliated to the Shoura Council (Upper House of Parliament) and led by its speaker Safwat El-Sherif. The Shoura Council was dissolved by the army following the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11. Deputy Prime Minister Yehia El-Gamal is currently in charge of the press issues. The press council has been criticized for imposing restrictions on licensing independent newspapers, which drove publishers to seek offshore licenses, depriving their journalists from the protection of the Journalists' Syndicate which they are not allowed to join.
