THE BROOKINGS PROJECT ON U.S. RELATIONS WITH THE ISLAMIC WORLD ANALYSIS PAPER Number 15, May 2010 CHANGING THE CHANNEL: Egypt’s Evolving Media Landscape and its Role in Domestic Politics at BROOKINGS Mirette F. Mabrouk THE BROOKINGS PROJECT ON U.S. RELATIONS WITH THE ISLAMIC WORLD ANALYSIS PAPER Number 15, May 2010 CHANGING THE CHANNEL: Egypt’s Evolving Media Landscape and its Role in Domestic Politics at BROOKINGS Mirette F. Mabrouk TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments . ................................................................ iv Executive Summary . v The Author . vii Introduction . 1 The Lay of the Land—A Look at Egypt’s Current Landscape . 2 Hear No Evil: Independent Newspapers . .............................................. 3 See No Evil: Satellite Television . .................................................... 8 Speak No Evil: New Media and Citizen Involvement . .................................. 10 How Have They Affected Politics? . 12 The Internet Irritant . ............................................................ 17 Party Political Broadcast . 20 Net Worth: How Effective is New Media in Driving Democratic Reform? . 22 Blurring the Lines . 24 The Media and Democratization in Egypt . ........................................... 26 Now What? Where the U.S. Should Step In and Where It Should Step Back . .............. 27 Conclusion . 32 THE SABAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY AT BROOKINGS CHANGING THE CHANNEL: EGYPT’S EVOLVING MEDIA LANDSCAPE AND ITS ROLE IN DOMESTIC POLITICS iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS his paper was researched and written during invariably helped sort the relevant from the merely Ta five-month fellowship at the Saban Center interesting. for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, from March through August of 2009. It was both a I would also like to thank Aysha Chowdhry, Yin- pleasure and a privilege to work and research at the nie Tse, Sadie Jonath and Elena Anderson for help Center and I am deeply indebted to many people and kindness well beyond the call of duty and for for the opportunity and for all the help and support elevating the experience beyond the academic. And I received. I would like to thank M.J. Akbar who was kind enough to put me on Brookings’ radar screen. I would like to thank Martin Indyk, Tamara Coff- man and Ken Pollack for being unfailingly gracious On the home front, I would like to thank my fam- and helpful during my time at Saban. Major thanks ily and close friends for invariably being at hand are due to Stephen Grand for being a consistently to offer moral support, at all sorts of bizarre hours, calm voice of reason. Journalists have a tendency to due to the time difference. want to get everything down on paper and Stephen THE SABAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY AT BROOKINGS CHANGING THE CHANNEL: EGYPT’S EVOLVING MEDIA LANDSCAPE AND ITS ROLE IN DOMESTIC POLITICS iv EXEcuTIVE SUMMARY ince the Revolution of 1952, Egypt’s govern- interactivity that had been absent from the land- Sment has paid close and unwavering attention scape for almost fifty years. to its media. The last twenty years or so, however, have seen a change in the landscape, with the media Private newspapers took notice of the success of testing the limits of state control. these shows and were soon emulating them. In Egypt private newspapers are distinct from oppo- These changes may be attributed to three main sition newspapers, which toe the opposition party causes: first, the introduction of private satellite line and cannot claim to be non-partisan. Over the television in the early 1990s; second, the rise of in- past years, these independent papers have increas- dependent newspapers; and finally, the emergence ingly pushed the envelope in providing news to their over the past five or six years of the internet and readers, often covering matters that the state-run pa- new media. pers either gloss over or do not cover at all. The re- sulting differences in coverage, particularly on issues Private satellite television stations, beginning with of politics, public accountability and civil rights, can Cable News Network (CNN) during the first Gulf be so pronounced that a casual observer might think War, brought Egyptian viewers their first glimpse the front pages of private papers and their state-run of television news that had not been filtered by the competition are covering different countries. Ministry of Information. The first Egyptian private satellite station emerged in 2000. Since it followed While private newspapers have led the way in rela- a private enterprise business model, the station tively independent reporting, there are many oppo- had to keep consumers happy, which meant giv- sition and other partisan papers that have become ing viewers what they wanted. What they wanted, increasingly strident and bombastic in their criti- it turned out, was information and the chance to cism of the government. In much the same way as be able to comment on it. Private stations vied Fox News is more a commentary network than an with one another to provide viewers with programs actual news provider, these papers have few claims that would keep them tuning in, and that often to objectivity, but there is no doubt they, like Fox, meant content of an aggressively political nature. have a following. In a country with a 71 percent literacy rate, satel- lite television had excellent penetration, much bet- As for new media, the technology’s effect has been ter than that of newspapers. It also offered, in its disproportionate to its physical presence. While in- talk shows with viewer call-ins, the opportunity for ternet penetration in Egypt is relatively limited, with THE SABAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY AT BROOKINGS CHANGING THE CHANNEL: EGYPT’S EVOLVING MEDIA LANDSCAPE AND ITS ROLE IN DOMESTIC POLITICS v perhaps 25 percent of the population at best hav- An Egypt which is stable and progressing forward ing internet access, new media has had a discernible with efforts at democratic and civil reform is not influence. It has affected the information available, only in the interests of the country, but in the in- its usage and the nature of discussion and participa- terest of the region as a whole and of the United tion in political life. Although less than one-fifth of States. Traditionally, such progress has come not Egypt’s blogs are political in nature, that fraction has from political parties but from civil society and an become noisy in its demands for civil reform and ac- independent press. Therefore, it is vital to support countability. They have become a source for breaking both in the interests of stability. stories that television and print news organizations then report on and pass on to a larger public. There is a fine line between support and interfer- ence. Consequently, financial and technical sup- Just as importantly, internet users tend to be young port for news organizations will always be welcome and educated, the same tranche of society that has and should be encouraged. Prizes for investigative felt increasingly disenfranchised from the political reporting, for example, will encourage professional- process and which various opposition political par- ism while instilling pride and providing cash—in ties had attempted, without any tangible success, to a notoriously cash-strapped industry—without for- rope in. The medium has re-awakened a question- eign interference. ing of authority and political excitement that had been missing from the Egyptian political scene for Technical support, like the provision of new equip- many years. ment and professional training courses, provide internal help while cross-cultural reviews and com- Despite vigorous and determined suppression in mittees open up a world of international coopera- the form of new legislation designed to curb the tion. Material aid in the form of legal fees or advice press, it has become increasingly difficult to stem to journalists is another possible means of aid with- the growing tide of free speech. The results have out the specter of international bullying or interfer- been a newly revitalized and surprisingly liberal ence. In all cases, the U.S. must be aware that an political dialogue, fueled to a great extent by both unshackled press is a vital strategic ally in the move access to information and the ability to disseminate towards democratization. it. The question remains what this means for U.S. foreign policy as far as Egypt is concerned. THE SABAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY AT BROOKINGS CHANGING THE CHANNEL: EGYPT’S EVOLVING MEDIA LANDSCAPE AND ITS ROLE IN DOMESTIC POLITICS vi THE AUTHOR Mirette F. Mabrouk is currently a Nonresident and it rapidly became the leading English newspa- Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy per in the country. She also wrote regularly, with at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. her opinion columns generally being the paper’s In January 2009, she relinquished her post as As- top-emailed article during the week of their pub- sociate Director for Publishing Operations at The lication. She continues to write, with her work American University in Cairo Press to take up the appearing in both local and international publica- fellowship. She continues to work with the Press as tions, among them The Huffington Post. an Editor-at-Large. Ms. Mabrouk graduated from the American Uni- She was formerly the publisher of The Daily Star versity in Cairo in 1989 with a BA in Mass Com- Egypt, (now The Daily New Egypt) the country’s munication. She obtained her Master’s Degree in only independent English-language daily newspa- Broadcast Journalism from the same university. per. Mabrouk founded the paper in May of 2005 THE SABAN CENTER FOR MIDDLE EAST POLICY AT BROOKINGS CHANGING THE CHANNEL: EGYPT’S EVOLVING MEDIA LANDSCAPE AND ITS ROLE IN DOMESTIC POLITICS vii INTRODucTION oday’s diverse forms of media are following Announcements in this form have always given rise to Tan ancient tradition.