The addictive cycle of TV news

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african voices, becky anderson, CNN, connect the world, Egypt, forced disappearances, freedom project, immigration, inside africa, Media, metrojet, news, parliamentary elections, personal, plane crash, russian plane, sarah sirgany, sex and the citadel, shereen el feki, war, wedding dress

My 2015 resolution was more writing and less TV work. It turned out to be the year with the least amount of writing and variation in outlets I contribute to. Instead, I did more TV, much more TV than I had planned. And different from what I imagined, with more variety in story types and kind of work that made it an exciting year despite the failed resolution.

The Arab Summit in March, held days after the Saudi attack on Yemen started, was a window into the other and more influential side of war: the smiles of diplomats, the calculated anger of officials, and the hushed conversations tucked in the hallways of the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

In the summer, I got the chance to take part in a lengthy investigation that spanned two countries. On the Egypt side, the team probed the factors and repercussions of illegal immigration of minors to Italy. Boys under the age of 18, usually 16 or younger, take advantage of Italian laws that prevent the deportation of unaccompanied minors. Their families buy them a spot on smuggling ships, hoping they would replicate the few success stories of illegal-immigrant-turned-business-owner in a short time. Kids picking up the main trade of sailing and fishing of the border villages they live in, like the Burg Meghizal village we reported from, are used by smugglers to sail the shaky boats. In case of arrest while en route to Italy, minors would be referred to shelters rather than prison, and if they make it safely, they would have worked the worth of their ticket to the other side of the Mediterranean.

In Italy, the rest of the team documented how these kids, under family pressure to make money, escape the shelters and end up in the prostitution or drugs businesses.

You can watch the three parts here:

Egyptian boys: seeking prosperity, dying at sea,

Egypt teens seek roads paved with gold in Europe

In Rome, migrant children forced to turn to prostitution

It was turned into a 30-minute special with more interviews and footage, but sadly it’s not online. The story was part of the CNN immigration and refugee coverage that won the Association of International Broadcasters Award in November.

Also in the summer, Becky Anderson’s Connect the World started its annual tour of the region, which is making a habit of ending prematurely in the wake of wars and other upheavals. This year, Egypt’s week wasn’t cut short like in 2014. The show was aired live from Cairo for four days culminating in the café set that featured multiple guests discussing sex, politics, economy and art.

You can watch clips from the Egypt arm of the tour here:

Bassem Youssef crashes Connect the World

Sex and society in the Middle East

Sharmoofers: The Sound of Cairo

Who’s responsible for over 160 missing Egyptians?

And to diversify things a bit, I got to work with African Voices and Inside Africa, two programs that are more flexible with format. We got to profile Sondos Shabayek, the woman behind the Bussy Project and its gender-based storytelling and interactive performances; and Yasmine Yeya, the talented and exclusive wedding designer, among others. We worked on an art-themed episode for Inside Africa.

Every year has to have an intense cycle of news coverage. This year it was the Russian airplane that crashed in Sinai. I traveled to Sharm El-Sheikh on the day of the crash and stayed there for almost two weeks. The intense live hits schedule and the continuous demand for new information drove an adrenaline high. Despite my long-unfulfilled intention to leave news, that adrenaline rush is as addictive as much as nerve wrecking. News for TV is more demanding than print. It’s highly competitive; scoops, deadlines and the demand for official response are measured in seconds and minutes. It gives less time for verification and the exposure each little piece of information aired on TV gets magnifies the smallest mistake. Despite this, and the unyielding struggle of acquiring information out of Egyptian officials, it is easy to get into this news cycle and deliver, like latching onto the greased wheels of a robust machine.

Such attachment to news cycles remains scary; like a black hole drawing you in to a grinder that spits you out months later unaware of the time spent – or wasted – or how the stories had scared you.

You can watch some of our plane crash coverage here:

Sharm el-Sheikh airport security under scrutiny

Can Egyptian tourism recover from Flight 9268 crash?

This year hasn’t been completely without writing. I contributed numerous stories to CNN.com, either to accompany TV reports we produced or on their own. You can read some of them here:

16 dead in protests marking Egypt revolution

Freed Al Jazeera journalist: I can’t get back my baby’s first 6 months

New terrorism law could target journalists in Egypt

Burned out and apathetic, Egypt prepares to vote – again

Is Egypt verdict a victory for LGBT rights? – Al-Monitor

The biggest contribution in writing has been on the research side. For over a year, I researched the disenfranchised electorate as a non-resident fellow at the DC-based Atlantic Council. The paper was postponed and consequently rewritten repeatedly as the parliamentary elections kept shifting from late 2014 to eventually October-November 2015. The paper surveyed previous and potential players and the voter base that would identify with them and why they would be sitting out the elections. According to the High Election Committee, the turnout for both phases was at 28.3 percent.

The paper, released end of July, can be read here:

To Vote or Not to Vote: Examining the Disenfranchised in Egypt’s Political Landscape

During the election season, I met with Mohamed Badran and members of the party he heads, Mostaqbal Watan (A Nation’s Future). With rumored closeness to Sisi and impressive results for a one-year-old party, Badran and his team are still on shaky grounds. His ambition could be hubris, and the rising star could crumble without any solid ideology gluing the party together.

The 24 Year Old Party Leader who Seeks to Rule Egypt

Despite the unrealized resolution, 2015 was gratifying career wise. I still aim to make the same resolution in 2016, and I’m trying to follow few steps to make it happen. But like last year, I’m open to what life brings my way.  It has been nothing short of exciting and invigorating.

Disgusting. Humiliating. Ugly.

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Daily News Egypt, DNE editorial team, DNE staff, editors, journalists, Media, news, newspaper, print media, reporters

Disgusting. Humiliating. Ugly.

That was my day yesterday. The editorial team behind Daily News Egypt was to get one more slap on the face Tuesday.

I hate to discuss this. We always resisted being the story, even when the paper was censored. But it’s difficult to remain mum for no good reason.

I thought we were dealing with respectful people. I thought the owners of the paper would sustain a shred of decency, but I was proven wrong.

We went to pick up our salaries for April, which we were told by the owners we should be grateful to take. While employees in other departments took theirs, an order was made to exclude the journalists and editors. The reason? “A problem with one of the investors with the editor over ‘passwords’”. But we left everything including access to our virtual profiles and emails at the office before we were effectively kicked out. No one asked me for any “passwords” until I went to get my salary. And even if a “problem” persists, why punish a team of 15 for a problem with one person?

Well, the “passwords” seem like a mere excuse to me. The editorial team is the one that led the move to file a complaint at the labor office, after being told by the owners and the liquidator (who also served as the supervising accountant and auditor for the company over the years) that court is our only option to get the outstanding financial rights.

Like the sudden closure of the DNE website for a couple of days last month, the owners seem to be making decisions affecting the paper and its staff based on any phone conversation they don’t like. Ironically, when we reminded the owners they owe us and the whole staff financial rights more than just salaries, they told us to talk to the liquidator they appointed because legally they had no control over the company assets anymore. This “control” is only effective when they want to change something.

It was heartbreaking to see the tears in my colleagues’ eyes, shocked by this spat of humiliation. Journalists have repeatedly put their lives at the line to get the story out and everyone has sacrificed a lot personally and professionally to get around the ever scarce resources. On Tuesday, we kept reminding each other to keep our chins up; this situation didn’t reflect on us as much as those who forced it on us.

I really expected it to go gracefully, or at least with less drama. Instead, we have to deal with erratic and spiteful decisions. Shame!

Read the statement by the staff over Tuesday’s events. (It’s mirrored on all of our individual blogs).

Make sure to read DNE business reporter Reem Abdellatif’s take on the investors of the paper here.

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Daily News Egypt website is back

Daily News: eulogies, thank yous and endings

Daily News Egypt offline

The Inside Story from DNE Staff

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Daily News Egypt, DNE, journalism, journalists, Media, news, newspaper, print media, shutdown, website

The original editorial staff of Daily News Egypt (which you can now follow on @OriginalDNE) would like to inform our loyal readers of the latest developments since the paper stopped printing. We had chosen to not go public with the story and our ordeal out of decency but were today pushed to speak out because we have been denied our most basic right, the salaries for the month of April.

Since we were informed of the owning company’s termination (Egyptian Media Services, which published Daily News Egypt), we were told that we have no financial rights pending, even though this is in violation of the Labor Law. We were informed, however, that we will be paid our full salaries for the month of April. This was noted in the termination letter we were handed on April 22, 2012, in which we were also informed that it would be our last working day. On that day we took our belongings from the office and handed in anything we had,such as a video camera, etc. The next day the locks on the office door were changed.

We left the office and decided to pursue legal action since the company’s liquidator told us we had no rights to severance packages for years of service ranging from two to seven, and this can only be resolved with a court order, thus encouraging us to file a complaint at the labor office for our financial rights. We did so, preceded by a complaint at the Dokki police station on April 24 and have been talking to a lawyer to pursue next steps.

We waited till the beginning of May to obtain our salaries. When we found out that the salaries were ready at the office, we went there to pick them up only to be informed that the editorial staff will not be paid. Other departments in the company got paid.

The owners allege that we have passwords that we have not handed in. This is untrue as everything we had access to was left at the office when we were told it was our last day, including passwords to the wire services which are even written on a whiteboard in the news room. They have full access to all usernames and passwords from our work PCs.

We are not holding any passwords hostage. We want to take this chance to inform our readers and followers that the original DNE staff is no longer affiliated with this brand. We are however, sticking together and forming a new venture.

Please follow us on @OriginalDNE and stay tuned. Your support is highly appreciated.

Related posts

Disgusting. Humiliating. Ugly.

Daily News Egypt website is back

Daily News: eulogies, thank yous and endings

Daily News Egypt offline

Daily News Egypt website is back

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Daily News Egypt, DNE, Media, online media, print media

The Daily News Egypt website is back up with a new message from the shareholders of the owning company, Egyptian Media Services. The company also prints and distributes the International Herald Tribune. For years, DNE has been distributed with the IHT.

The IHT is looking for a local partner to resume printing in Egypt soon.

Farewell Note from the Shareholders of EMS

It is with great sadness that we were forced to close the doors of The Daily News Egypt, Cairo’s preeminent and only independent English language newspaper.

The DNE was conceived seven years ago when a group of Egypt loving business people, got together to achieve a single objective – raise the standard of English language journalismin Egypt and make it relevant to the times.  We did this with considerable anxiety. It was clear back then that media was a high-risk business, and the newspaper industry worldwide seemed to be struggling.  Moreover, wewere launching an English paper in a country where so few spoke the language; there was no doubt that we would struggle with low readership figures. However, we were committed from an intellectual, cultural and emotional point of view. An English daily would be so important for Egypt, especially when the only available alternative was a state-owned newspaper.  The DNE would take its place in a country where tourism was a key sector, and cater to its young population, expats, visitors and bilingual speakers in a way like never before.  Indeed, we had romantic notions for what this newspaper could be and proceeded despite the business hurdles and risks.

We believed in the Editor and the Writers, who were very passionate about their work.  We could not be more proud of the recognition they achieved, especially post-Revolution, and the outstanding body of work they leave as their legacy in a digital archive for future readers.  Given the dramatic political and social events that unfolded in Egypt consistently since January 2011, The DNE archives will be read by people around the world interested in learning more about the nation’s history and struggle.

We injected millions of pounds into The Daily News Egypt during the course of its life, and never took a single penny out.  We never claimed expenses, salaries, dividends, royalties or payment of any kind.  Our objective was for the newspaper to eventually cover its costs.  In 2009 the company nearly broke even, after years of the investors having to constantly re-inject capital into the business.  This turning point was important for the owners who had been funding the company from their personal capital with no clear sign of when the financial burden would end.

The short-lived stability was to end in 2011 with the Revolution.  The events in Egypt were so large in scale that the investors agreed, once again, to carry the business through the hard times.  Advertising revenues were down a whopping 75% in 2011.Despite that, investors managed all concerns on the business side so that DNE’s staff could focus on reporting the events to the world from the front-line.  We witnessed our team flourish, performing their journalistic roles with impressive professionalism and credibility.  The investors made sure the team was able to work freely without having to deal with the mounting pressures of the business; salaries and bills were always paid on time and without fail.  Needless to say, the investors faced monthly losses in the hundreds of thousands so that the newspaper could continue its work.  Around this time, and as a preemptive move against the possibility of the newspaper having to close down, negotiations were initiated with individuals, companies and media groups to save the paper. No stone was left unturned, but sadly no offers were made either.  The concern at this grave stage was purely the welfare of the employees and the preservation of the product. None of the investors expected a recovery of their investment, nor did they even suggest it. After months of grueling negotiations, last-ditch efforts and desperate measures the funds – and time – had run out.

The decision to close down was not taken lightly. On the contrary, it was painful and difficult.  The investors supported the newspaper until it was simply not possible to do so any longer.  Our pride in what we built remains, however, and both the commercial and editorial teamsof The Daily News Egyptare a credit to journalism and Egypt.  We wish everyone associated with The Daily News Egypt the best of luck in their future projects. Creating this newspaper with them has been a great experience.

Egyptian Media Services

And here’s a link to the final note posted by the DNE staff, from the DNE website. Let’s hope it continues existing.

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Daily News: eulogies, thank yous and endings

Daily News Egypt offline

Daily News: eulogies, thank yous and endings

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Daily News Egypt, Media, print media

Here’s what our readers and friends had to say about Daily News Egypt’s closure. Thank you for the kind words.

Maurice Chamma/Adrift on the Nile: Eulogy for the Daily News Egypt.

Arabist: Thank you, Daily News Egypt.

Mohamed El Dahshan: Curtain falls on the Daily News Egypt.

Poetechnique (authored by my best friend and DNE Business Editor Amira Salah-Ahmed): Lights out at DNE.

From the News:

Egypt Independent: Daily News Egypt leaves a legacy of independent journalism.

Foreign Policy – Passport blog: The death of a newspaper.

 

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Daily News Egypt website is back

Daily News Egypt offline

Daily News Egypt offline

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Daily News Egypt, Media, newspaper

It’s shocking. Daily News Egypt is now offline. As we are trying to deal with the closure of the paper, we are dealt another blow. We specifically asked the owners to keep it alive. The staff offered to pay for the hosting of the website, or buy it, so that the 7-year archive doesn’t go down the drain. It’s seven years of our work and also a comprehensive archive of Egypt’s news in English during a pivotal period of the country’s political and social history. But alas, the owners’ promises to consider our request — because it also made sense — were obviously not serious.

There is more to say, and I’ll eventually write a lengthy post about the DNE family. But it’s been a long and sad day. The closure has been overwhelming, even though messages of support have made it bearable.

Until then, here’s the last editorial we wrote. There are numerous cache files and archived pages, thanks to our loyal readers and friends. Here’s a link to one.

Daily News Egypt: Final words

By   Daily News Egypt Editorial Staff April 22, 2012, 2:46 pm

Last Thursday the editorial staff of Daily News Egypt was informed, quite abruptly, that our last issue was going to be the one which was published Saturday-Sunday, April 20-21, 2012.After seven years of providing hard breaking news and analysis on Egypt, and being the only independent English-language printed daily in the country, we regret to inform our loyal readers that, as far as the current editorial staff was informed, the paper will no longer be published.As for the website, a valuable archive of the past seven years of Egypt’s history — in politics, business, society, arts, culture and lifestyle; in text, images and videos which the dedicated editorial staff has developed and maintained, we are unfortunately not certain of its fate. We have specifically and repeatedly requested from the management of the owning company, Egyptian Media Services, to keep the website alive, even if it means that we, the current editors and reporters, have to finance it ourselves. Both ethically and morally, we believe we should be given priority on its ownership. The team at Daily News Egypt has put their hearts into the paper, working effortlessly and tirelessly together to produce objective, reliable, timely content, always in an amazing work atmosphere of professionalism combined with a friendly and supportive spirit. Knowing that this is rare to find, the editorial staff of the paper has stuck it out through numerous trials and tribulations. From scarce resources to budget cuts to obstacles that we’ve overcome together, to uncertain days and nights at the office covering the revolution, never at the expense of the content we provide to readers. We’ve grown, in a very organic manner, from merely producing a newspaper to also putting out a website with excellent multimedia content as well as developing a strong social media presence and following, all with the same limited staff. And the staff members we sadly lost along the way have found greener pastures in the most prestigious news organizations like Al Jazeera, Reuters, CNN and Bloomberg, which ultimately makes us all very proud. It would be an understatement to say that the editorial team is attached to DNE and to each other; we think of ourselves as a family more than merely colleagues, including those who have come and gone, and especially including our loyal freelancers, contributors and interns. It’s our deep regret to have to disband for the time being and not be able to produce the paper anymore. But we’d like to thank you, our loyal readers, for your support and consistently positive feedback over the years. Rania Al Malky, Chief Editor Sarah El Sirgany, Deputy Editor Amira Salah-Ahmed, Business Editor Dalia Rabie, Features Editor Joseph Fahim, Culture Editor Heba Elkayal, Lifestyle Editor Safaa Abdoun, Features Writer / Reporter Heba Fahmy, News Reporter Heba Hesham, News Reporter Mai Shams El Din, News Reporter / Editorial Assistant Reem Abdellatif, Business Reporter Farah Saafan, Video Journalist Abdel Azim Saafan, Graphic Designer Osama Taher, Graphic Designer Hassan Ibrahim, Photographer

Revolution Diaries: Feb. 3 – Run journalists Run

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democracty, Egypt, foreign media, jan25, journalists, Media, mob, Mubarak, safe, thugs

Foreign journalists became the target on Wednesday. As Pro-Mubarak mobs, believed to be thugs and undercover police, tried to storm the pro-democracy protest in Tahrir Square, anyone with a camera became a target.

Deadly clashes saw people on horses storm Tahrir to attack unarmed protesters in a surreal scene. The attack on journalists there by Pro-Mubarak protesters was similarly orchestrated. A journalist friend said if you can’t run, don’t go there.

By the next morning, the target wasn’t simply people with cameras, but anyone who looked remotely foreign. State TV and phone calls aired live by private satellite TV have been blaming “foreigners” for mobilizing the Tahrir protesters and turning them against their country.

Two of our Daily News Egypt reporters were attacked by mobs while doing field reporting in a district away from Tahrir. “They are foreign; they are asking questions,” the mobs said as they tried to beat them along with any Egyptian that dared defend them. An army officer saved the reporters. Another was running trying to disperse crowds attacking other foreigners.

Mob mentality took over and people were charged. I stood watching in disbelief, anger and fear, mourning my once safe Egypt.

I drove a French-American journalist to the airport later that day. In the morning he said he’d ignore his embassy’s call to evacuate and stay in Egypt. After the attack he packed his bags. We had to avoid roads known to be dominated by the Mubarak mobs. We made it to the airport safe, but I felt I was smuggling drugs not driving a friend across the city.

This ran in Italian in the Corriere Della Sera.

The Emergency Prosperity Squad

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ahmed ezz, Cairo, change, CNN, democracy, Egypt, Egyptian, ElBaradei, emergency law, ez, laws, Media, NDP, opposition, regime, state, West

If you think of it, no one said anything new on Christiane Amanpour’s Egypt episode; Mohamed ElBaradei quoted the same statistics and the same argument about change and National Democratic Party mouthpiece Ahmed Ezz continued with the regime’s 30-year-long mantra coupled with the past decade’s “we are changing and developing and prospering” bla.

Although not new, Ezz’s comments highlighted the schizophrenia rooted in almost all government arguments. In less than 5 minutes he managed to move from the prosperity fantasy — “Egypt is going through a very exciting time. And Egypt is developing in almost every walk of life. And the political diversity taking place in Egypt today is unseen, unwitnessed in my generation” — to the Hollywood B-movie thriller — “it’s code red alert in Cairo 365 days of the year.”

Supposedly, we are in a time of peace. This is often hailed as the overarching achievement of our wise president, an achievement that extends in lineage to a time before Mubarak came to power. Sadat had promised Egyptians prosperity after the war and the Open Door policy is supposed to have made that true in the 70s. And since 1981, it was prosperity at full throttle.

But it was also the reign of the state of emergency. Almost 30-years of emergency laws justified by a state of mutilating danger (terrorists, Israelis, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iranians, drug dealers, headbangers, satellite TV, stuff in the air, bloggers, activists, journalists, aliens, etc). We are targeted, we are in danger, they are out to get us (regardless of the identity of those “they”), etc.

The multi-purpose Masr Mostahadafa (مصر مستهدفة Egypt is targeted) line has proven useful in dismissing a documentary about police torture as well as condemning any critical statement made by any foreign entity known to man.

The same concept was used by parliament earlier this year to renew the president’s unmonitored authority in anything related to weapons and armament. The representative of the Ministry of Defense present in that session said that such authorization is made in exceptional and necessary cases; and the current dangers threatening the state are exceptional circumstances.

Even on the local level, those ‘dangers’ are often used as a justification. In response to April 6 Youth Movement’s notification to the Ministry of Interior of their planned demonstration on April 6, 2010, the ministry notified the group of its disapproval, “Due to the current security situation and public disturbance marches like this can cause in the capital.”

Almost the same line was used in response to the MPs’ notification of their May 3 march.

The “current security situation” seems to be too fragile to handle anything; it’s a wonder that we are still breathing.

The use of this argument in these contexts proves yet again that the laws are in place only to protect the regime, to stifle the opposition. It’s often used to override the judicial process and court orders, to silence critics, to threaten activists.

Just this past month, Coptic blogger Hany Nazeer saw his 19-month detention renewed in spite of a court order for his release.

“Nazeer’s renewed detention gives lie to the Egyptian government’s claim that it doesn’t use the emergency law to imprison people with dissenting views,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government is not addressing a national security emergency but persecuting a writer whose blog may have upset some people.”

Many Islamists and activists face more or less the same treatment, justified and facilitated by the emergency laws.

This has been going on for so long it’s not surprising any more.

The baffling part, however, is how (or why) top government officials can seamlessly combine the constant threat argument with the promotion of the strides the government took towards economic development and political reform. Doesn’t investment require safety? Isn’t political reform supposed to go hand in hand with social stability?

The government is promoting the country as safe and secure to foreign investors while painting the “code red alert” picture during any political argument. But isn’t it worried that those foreign investors would eavesdrop to its security scare talk? Or does it assure them with the heavy hand of its interior ministry?

The current regime has become an expert in giving the façade of democracy to the world, without any tangible progress on the ground, as one foreign politician/academic once told me. Ezz tried to employ the same rhetoric, telling Amanpour about the 240 publications, the 15 TV networks, the regime’s tolerance of ElBaradei, and about the “good Egyptians who are demonstrating … for either political or economic or other grievances” near the parliament. The fact that such grievances are not addressed, or that the emergency laws are used to protect the political survival of this regime is beside the point of course.

It was refreshing though to see that such argument is easily rebuffed.

Ezz’s claim that the emergency laws, which he compared to the US patriot act, can only be removed “when the Middle East is at peace with itself” was met by Amanpour’s stunned “Oh, my goodness.”

Why wouldn’t she say that? The Patriot Act and similar legislations in different countries have been heavily criticized for stifling freedoms — in countries where other civil rights legislations ensure a sort of balance and civil monitoring of state practices and possible violations. We are still struggling to get anything close to that systematic protection of civil and human rights. In addition, our regime has often said it can’t import democracy, but obviously it can import anti-terror laws, which is expected to be the new name of the amended, more systematically abusive version of our current emergency laws.

Al Khan, the end

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Al Khan, Cartoon, comic strip, commentary, daily, Egypt, Egyptian, graphic novel, Media, news, plot, Politics, Religion, Sarah El Sirgan, Shahine, society, stereotype, storyline, Tarek Shahin

For two years, my friend of 10+ years, Tarek Shahin, has been contributing a daily comic strip, Al Khan, to Daily News Egypt, the newspaper I work for. And over those two years, Al Khan has slowly become an addiction that I realized is shared by many. For me the addiction wasn’t just about finding out what happens next, but my regular chats with Tarek about the fictitious news room, its journalists and their friends and families have become part of my routine in the paper, more like a ritual I look forward to.

Whether its Omar, Nada, Yunan, Dr Anwar, or Brother Levy, many of the characters were loosely based on some people we know (Guess which one is Tarek?) and that made them a bit more real to me – even without this additional link, it was easy relating to many of Al Khan’s characters, their dilemmas and their choices.

Tarek’s wit and talent made the storyline — intertwined with commentary about current events on the political, economical and social scenes — more engaging. In few carefully chosen words, Tarek managed to convey a lot every day. (By the way, he’s a perfectionist, selecting the words and sentence structures with painful caution to make sure they communicate the exact meaning he wants).

Even in the few times I didn’t agree with his opinions expressed in Al Khan, I couldn’t but admire the way he put it all together. (DNE Editor Rania Al-Malky charts the story of Al Khan in the newspaper here).

As Tarek said in this last installment of Al Khan, it was a comic strip about individuality. True. In so many ways it was a testament to the diversity in this country, the antithesis of the superficial and uninformed generalizations, an animated proof to all who thought they’ve known Egypt that what they’ve done is barely scratch the surface. I’ve seen him strip his characters to the most common stereotype, only to build up their complexity, layer after layer.

It’s for these reasons and many more, reading the word “Fin” on Al Khan strip last week was heartbreaking. I’ve known that it was going to end in April, but still, last week was surprisingly an emotional one.

Tarek and me in 2009, Al Khan comics on the table.

It’s not like I won’t work with Tarek again; I’m sure that is bound to happen in one form or another. It’s not that we won’t be friends anymore; we’ve known each other for 10 years, even before we worked together for the Caravan, the student paper of the American University in Cairo.

I guess I was just too attached to Al Khan.

Tarek my friend, best of luck in your next project and I hope we run more of your cartoons in Daily News later on.

Al Khan is available on Daily News Egypt and here.

You can also check Tarek’s cartoon blog Cairo Freeze, but it has been inactive for a while.

The first season of Al Khan has been published in a book in 2009 and is available in local book stores.

It’s not over yet

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Algeria, Dream TV, Egypt, Media, professional, qualifier, qualify, sarah el sirgany, World Cup

(aka, it’s not over until Amr Adib, Tamer Amin, Khaled El-Ghandour, Mostafa Abdou, et al sing)

It’s been almost threee weeks now, and the Egypt-Algeria saga still leads the list of hot topics. For some people, it is the list.

The funny SMS Eid greetings that snidely targeted Algeria, directly and subtly, didn’t diffuse the anger. The messages seemed to express and stoke the furry rather than being another mechanism of dealing with concerns with humor. Black comedy or cynicism to be accurate. People were laughing at rhymed messages that ended with “يخرب بيت أم الجزائر” (literally to destroy Algeria), but only few were ready to discuss the issue rationally.

The news that Mohamed ElBaradie could be an option in the next presidential elections was still overshadowed by aftermath of the Egypt-Algeria games. The minaret ban in Switzerland did get some attention, but that too was limited. (I’m a bit surprised that Algeria wasn’t implicated in the outcome of the infamous vote, though).

Although, I heard that Arabic press got orders to water down on the coverage of the issue, the damage has been done, and false and speculative news still appear as facts.

Just before the Eid, journalist Amr Khafaga appeared on state-TV’s El-Beit Beitak with other journalists to assess media coverage of the skirmishes after the game in Sudan. Unfortunately, I don’t have the link. But it was surprising to see criticism of the way events were blown out of proportion, how agitation reigned over factual reporting, and the inappropriate language used on state TV, which was also blamed for it unprofessional coverage.

Although I would like to assume that this indicates a positive change in the government’s approach to the issue — especially with officials on both sides toning down their fiery statements — false news are obviously here to stay.

The latest example was unfortunately in Al-Masry Al-Youm, sports section. On Friday, the Arabic-language paper said that Qatar pulled its team from the women’s volleyball tournament currently hosted by Ahly, to declare its support to Algeria. The story quotes an Ahly board member who says that this is ‘probably’ the reason.

This piece of ‘news’ is trying to hit two birds with one stone: keep stoking the Algeria furry while using the incident to vilify Qatar at the same time (in your face Jazeera).

But in doing so, the journalist chose to ignore many known facts. First, as I heard, many clubs (over 10, if not 20) had pulled out from this tournament for various reasons, mainly finances. Usually women teams are sacrificed when their clubs are faced with limited resources/finances. The parallel men’s team takes priority. Second, the head of the Qatari volleyball federation was in Cairo all this week. It sounds a bit odd that Qatar (as a country) would pull out from a tournament in objection to something, but its official sports representative would attend.

The rise of the sports media

This piece of news and the entire media coverage of the Egypt-Algeria saga is the manifestation of the rise of the sports media. Let’s face it, sports, with all the corruption it’s known for, remains to be the closest thing we have to democracy. It’s something everyone relates to, can participate and engage in, and its governing bodies are regularly elected. It was only natural that with the advent of independent satellite stations and publications that sport would take the premium attention. As one editor of an Arabic-language daily said, the sports section (always printed in color) is the moneymaker, the section for which many people buy newspapers.

We’ve always had the “Sport & Youth” radio station, but new TV networks dedicated entire channels or considerable airtime to sport. You can even find coverage of the second-level football league. In turn, this pushed state TV to do the same. The competition – sometimes healthy, sometimes sickening – has demanded that these stations look for knowledgeable presenters that can also attract viewers to the station. Thus, instead of trained journalists, retired athletes took over.

The unprofessional coverage of events has been evident over the past couple of years. It was put under the spotlight during the coverage of the violence that followed the game in Sudan. It’s not like the supposedly trained journalists did any better, but the increase of this type of media people has definitely contributed in blowing this incident out of proportion and of (un)intentionally agitating the viewers.

For more critical and analytical coverage, these are my favorite:
1.       Jack Shenker analysis in the Guardian: More to Egypt riots than football.
2.        Nawara Negm’s sarcastic review of Alaa Mubarak’s phone interjections كلمة ابن الرئيس المؤمن علاء مبارك . Actually just read every thing on this blog.
3.        And of course Mona El Shazly’s critical review of the government’s the media’s performance before, during and after the game.

For more critical and analytical coverage, these are my favorite:

1. Jack Shenker analysis in the Guardian More to Egypt riots than football http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/25/egypt-riots-football-world-cup

2. Nawara Negm’s sarcastic review of Alaa Mubarak’s phone interjections كلمة ابن الرئيس المؤمن علاء مبارك http://www.tahyyes.org/2009/11/blog-post_23.html . Actually just read every thing on this blog.

3. And of course Mona El Shazly’s critical review of the government’s the media’s performance before, during and after the game.