The New York Times reports on several moves by government authorities in Egypt against journalists critical of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood. No surprise then that the Brotherhood has taken notes from Hosni Mubarak’s playbook in suppressing those critical of the regime.
Two cases are worrying observers. One involves the suspension of a satellite television channel that features a programme hosted by is Tawfik Okasha who is a vocal critic of former Muslim Brotherhood leader and now president, Mohamed Morsi. The station has been suspended for 45-days and been warned it could come off the air permanently.
The second incident involves confiscation of copies of the daily newspaper Al Dustour at the weekend, which has also been critical of the Islamist group. The paper has been temporarily suspended and a travel ban placed on its editor-in-chief, Islam Afifi. Okasha also has a travel ban hanging over his head.
In other cases, editors have been faulted for tamping down criticism of Egypt’s new rulers. And on Wednesday, for the second time in a week, the editor of a state-owned daily newspaper was accused of censoring writers who wrote columns critical of the Brotherhood.
While many people here argue that new media figures like Mr. Okasha went too far — seeming to threaten Mr. Morsi and the Brotherhood with violence on a recent show — the government’s actions have revived concerns about the methods the Islamists are willing to use to strengthen their hold on power.
“What’s happening is very serious,” said Hani Shukrallah, the editor of Ahram Online, an English-language site. “We’ve got an organization that is not interested in democratizing the press, or freeing the press,” he said, referring to the Brotherhood. “It’s interested in taking it over,” the New York Times reports.
Earlier this week both men were referred for trial in a criminal court on charges including insulting Morsi on charges of spreading false rumours and inciting violence.
Those two cases follow a mob attack on Khaled Salah, the editor of al-Youm al-Sabei newspaper. Salah says he was assaulted by Muslim Brotherhood supporters protesting against programmes critical of the president outside television studios on the outskirts of Cairo. The Brotherhood has denied it was behind the violence.
In an ominous sounding statement reported by the FT, Mohsen Rady, a Brotherhood spokesman, denied the organisation was responsible but said it supported “holding accountable those who make mistakes”.
“We have nothing to do with the moves against the press,” said Mohsen Rady, a Brotherhood official. “Members of the public have filed complaints against a libellous channel and newspaper and the prosecutor took action. We are opposed to closure and confiscation even if a media outlet is hostile to us, but we support holding accountable those who make mistakes.”
The paper also reports on how many Egyptian journalists have been angered in recent days by sweeping changes in the senior editorial staff of some 55 media organisations owned by the state.
The appointments were made by Islamist-dominated upper chamber of parliament despite opposition to its choices from the journalists’ union that contested the professional credentials of the new editors-in-chief.
Sayed Mahmoud, the literary editor of the online portal of al-Ahram, the main state-owned daily, said one of the first actions of the newspaper’s new editor-in-chief was to shelve a series tracking Mr Morsi’s progress in his first 100 days in office. The coverage, said Mr Mahmoud, was unflattering to Mr Morsi because it showed that little was being achieved.
“They are following in Mubarak’s footsteps and trying to buy loyalty,” Mr Mahmoud said.
Traditionally, the state press in Egypt has functioned as the mouthpiece for whoever is in power. Although some criticism of the ruling establishment, if not of Mr Mubarak himself, was in the past tolerated in government newspapers, editors had to demonstrate their loyalty by writing pieces praising the president’s decisions, the the FT reports.
