A new book offers a study about slums in Egypt and the Arab world. Dr. Fathy Hussien Amer's book, “Slums and Media in Arab Nations,” reveals that slums are not only an Egyptian problem but an Arab one. Amer said in the introduction of his new book that the issue of slums is not new and thus cannot be removed with so it can't be removed through old solutions. He said slums are a social, economic and cultural problem resulting from social unbalance. Egypt started to focus on the problem of slums in 1992, said Amer, adding that the government decided to deal with the problem from the security point of view, aiming at preventing Islamists from reaching the residents of such areas. He said they focused on security at the expense of humanitarianism. The media and press can play a critical role in developing the slums, said Amer. His book includes four chapters in which the author highlighted the reasons leading to the spread of slums and the stories about the criminals committed there. In the second chapter the author discussed how the press deals with slums in addition to discussing the problem in Kuwait, Morocco, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. The author also discussed the role of media in planning and confronting the different crises stemming from slums.
