CAIRO: At a Port Said workshop that ended Tuesday, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights requested the formulation of a new press law allowing for more press freedom. Titled Towards a New Law to Regulate Press Freedom the workshop was attended by about 50 participants including journalists, media representatives and a group of consultants. Attendees also stressed the necessity of eradicating regulations that shackle freedom of speech and expression, specifically those affecting press freedom. Freedom of the press is one of the important topics the organization is concerned with, said Nashwa Nashaat, head of Egyptian studies at EOHR. We are interested in freedom of expression in general and want to solve the problems that journalists face such as mistreatment, sexual harassment and harassment in general. Some of the reforms agreed upon in the workshop include replacing the current punishments for publishing offenses with more reasonable punishments such as paying fines. Participants also suggested simplifying the licensing procedures for new publications as well as canceling the stipulation that press syndicate members must be professional journalists and that they own or co-own a publication. They agreed that this contradicts the premise of constitutional equality. Even though there has been a lot of improvement in the press arena in Egypt, a workshop is useful to raise further awareness, said Naila Hamdy, journalism and mass communications professor at the American University in Cairo. She added that some of the barriers faced by journalists in Egypt are not necessarily related to media freedom but also include low pay, lack of appreciation from the public and mistreatment. According to Gamal Fahmy, chairman of the Arab and Foreign Affairs committee at the Press Syndicate, workshops related to press freedom usually include constructive ideas and suggestions. The state of journalism today is unstable. It is surrounded by a number of laws that threaten the profession and make it vulnerable to the government, said Fahmy, Considering the current situation in Egypt as a whole, we can t expect to get complete freedom of press when society as a whole has no freedom. This workshop is part of a series organized by the EOHR which began at the beginning of 2007 and will continue for two years, to instigate legislative reform in Egypt. This is necessary in order to reach international standards of human rights that have been approved and signed by the Egyptian government. The series is held in seven different governorates around Egypt: Cairo, Alexandria, Gharbeya, Damietta, Port Said, Assuit and Qena. So far there is supposed progress stemming from the workshops, but we can t really claim that there has been wholesome improvement yet, said Nashaat, we are hoping for further improvement, especially when it comes to the issue of freedom of expression.
