Egypt

 

A  media company linked to Egyptian authorities suspended three prominent television programmes after their hosts criticised the government and road safety failures, raising concerns about media control by state-aligned entities

On 16 July, United Media Services (UMS), a company owned and closely linked to Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, terminated its contract with veteran journalist Lamis El Hadidy. Her ON TV talk show, Kelma Akheera (‘Final Word’), had been off the air since early July.

Independent Egyptian outlets El-Manassa and Saheeh Masr reported that the firing and cancellation were due to El Hadidy’s violation of editorial red lines by mentioning military companies and government responsibility for a road crash that killed 19 people, mostly teenage girls.

Separately, on 6 July, journalist Khairy Ramadan’s show, Ma’a Khairy (‘With Khairy’), on Al-Mehwar TV, which is part of a media coalition led by UMS, was abruptly cut off mid-episode, also because he reported on the road accident. The programme featured truck drivers blaming poor road conditions for frequent accidents.

Ramadan was ordered to cut to an unscheduled commercial break, and the show has not aired since.

In another case of apparent retaliation, sources told London-based newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Cairo-based channel Al-Qahera Wal Nas – also part of the UMS coalition – recently decided to terminate TV host Ibrahim Eissa’s contract after he launched a YouTube channel featuring indirect criticism of the government.

‘These suspensions reveal the Egyptian government’s intolerance of journalism that crosses political red lines or questions state performance,’ said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s regional director. ‘Journalists must be able to hold officials accountable without fear of censorship or retaliation’

Toronto-based exiled Egyptian journalist and media commentator Mostafa Al-A’sar told the CPJ, ‘Egypt’s media is tightly controlled by the security apparatus. Journalists who stray from the official narrative face sanctions — even if they work for security-owned outlets’.

CPJ emailed UMS for comment but received no response.

---

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS

PICTURE: Lamis El Hadidy was fired after she discussed the military and government culpability on her show, Kelma Akheera (‘Final Word’) (Lamiskelmaakhera/YouTube)

This article was first published here