Il-Watan newspaper writers left their columns blank in protest at the appointments to top editorial positions in state run media Laurence Underhill / DNE Abdel Nasser Salama was appointed editor-in-chief of Al Ahram newspaper, Gamal Abdel Rahim is the new editor-in-chief of Al-Gomhouriya, and Mohamed Hassan Al-Banna will head Al-Akhbar Al-Youm's daily newspaper. Many of the editors appointed by the Islamist-dominated Shura Council have notable Islamist leanings. Salama has a reputation for attacking both the Coptic Church and protesters in his past columns, using questionable allegations to support his opinions. In December 2010, Al Ahram published a piece by Salama in which he claimed Pope Shenouda III gave a speech in 1973 disclosing a plan to equalise the numbers of Christians and Muslims in Egypt by 2000. He also accused the late pope and foreign powers of exaggerating sectarian strife in the country. Al Ahram later suspended Salama and issued an apology for his statements. In an editorial dated 7 February 2011, days before the resignation of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, Salama claimed, “we have seen foreigners in the square carrying banners, demanding the fall of the regime, and we have also seen cars with diplomatic plates provide hot meals for protesters, while neighborhood security watches in the streets in more than one incident arrested individuals of different nationalities in cars with arms and money." Al-Qenawi, of the weekly Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper, is a notable Islamist journalist and was once editor-in-chief of the Al-Azhar-run newspaper, Sout Al-Azhar. Shaker Abdel Fattah Moussa worked for the state-run news agency MENA in New Delhi from 2003-2006 and later covered conferences in Europe and Africa. Al-Akhbar's Al-Banna had been managing editor and has worked in media, journalism, and Quranic research. Rose Al-Yousef's magazine's new editor-in-chief, Essam Abdel Aziz, has ties to the old regime and has been managing editor for the magazine. State-run Al-Gomhouriya's new editor-in-chief, Gamal Abdel Rahim, has a history of speaking out against Egypt's small Baha'i community. In 2009, he lauded attacks on Baha'i homes in an Upper Egyptian village in Sohag and consistently spoke out against Baha'ism in his columns. The Shura Council's power to appoint the editors-in-chief of state newspaper has sparked controversy among Egyptian journalists. On Thursday, columnists in the privately-owned Al-Tahrir, Al-Masry Al-Youm, and Al-Watan newspapers protested by leaving their columns blank. In Al-Watan, prominent writers including former MP Amr Hamzawy, left blank columns under their headings with a message at the bottom reading, “this space is blank protesting attempts by the [Muslim Brotherhood] to control the state press and general media establishments owned by the Egyptian people, like the previous [NDP] party."
The complete list of newly appointed editors:
Al Ahram Al Ahram: Abdel Nasser Salama Al Ahram Economic: Salem Wahby Hafez Al Shabab: Hassan Fathy Nasf Al-Donya: AmalFawzy Al Ahram Al-Masaee: Mohamed Kharaaga AlaaEddin: Mohamed Thabet Al Ahram Al Arabi: Ashraf BadrMahdy Al Bayt: SalfeyaSaadEddin Lugha Al-Asr: Adel Al-Laqqani Al-Democratia: Basheer Abdel Fattah Al-Taawun: Mohamed Abu Shusha Al-Zeraeya: Azmy Al-Nasharty Al-Ahram Sport: Anwar Mohamed Al-Ahram Weekly: GalalNassar Al-Ahram Ebdu: HeshamMourad Ismail Al-Seyasa Al-Dawlia: Awad Khalil Diwan Al-Ahram: Kawthar Ahmed
