The rule goes that whatever political regime comes to power and by any which means, it should firstly control the media. This happened in all countries experiencing coups d’etats and revolutions, except in Egypt. Suppose that someone travelled back in time to January 24, 2011 and returned in November 2012? Would he feel, when watching Egyptian TV channels, that a revolution had occurred when seeing the faces in the media?
The rule goes that whatever political regime comes to power and by any which means, it should firstly control the media. This happened in all countries experiencing coups d’etats and revolutions, except in Egypt. Suppose that someone travelled back in time to January 24, 2011 and returned in November 2012? Would he feel, when watching Egyptian TV channels, that a revolution had occurred when seeing the faces in the media?
It is certainly worth considering that despite all accusations against the Egyptian media until the ousting of Mubarak, and since the revolution, not a single new presenter of evening talk shows has appeared on the screen; nor have criticisms affected the appearance of most of those criticized as being supporters of the former regime and involved in circulating gossip about revolutionaries.
We are talking about evening talk shows in particular since they are known by experts and observers as deeply influencing public opinion in Egypt, especially after the revolution. Usually starting at 8:00 pm to end the next day at 2:00 am, such shows are similarly presented, regardless of the show name, its presenter or the media method supposed to be used. All of them start with a news summary of what has happened since the previous day, present filmed reports, host guests and receive interpositions by phone as parts of the discussion. And they all have days off at weekends.
Accordingly, neither Bassem Yossouf, the introducer of the ironic shows could be considered as a new face on the stage of the Egyptian talk shows, nor could the morning programs that started after the revolution be classified as talk shows, since they are originally of service nature. The absence of new faces from the Egyptian talk shows could be understood only in light of the professionalism enjoyed by most, but not all, of the old faces, which allowed them to recognize that what Egypt witnessed was limited changes, rather than the comprehensive change citizens were deceived of in order to leave the Tahrir Square.
In order to replace the old faces supporting the former regime, the regime should have been toppled in the first place. On the other hand, the new regime has not yet introduced the faces supposed to represent it so that they could occupy a leading position and manipulate the minds of the audience. Therefore, presenters of most talk shows as well as most prominent journalists have remained practicing their same jobs, though from altered positions. Such an alternation does not express a serious willing to change; rather, it suggests a situation of confusion invading Egyptian satellite channels market. This confusion is clearly articulated by news presenters moving like professional footballers among channels but under the same political and media umbrella.
Before providing some notes that help explain the fixed media picture, though with moving parts, the following is a review of some position alteration cases during the last 22 months:
The first mentioned channel is the one the presenter used to appear on during the revolution.
Tamer Amin (record holder): (Egyptian TV, LTB, Mehwar Plus, and currently Rotana Masrya).
Mahmoud Sa’d: (Egyptian TV, Tahrir, and currently Ennahar).
Ibrahim Essa: (Tahrir, ON TV, and currently Al Kaher Wal Nas)
Amr Laythi: (Dream, Tahrir, and currently Mehwar).
Khairy Ramadan and Lamis Hadidi (Egyptian TV and Currently CBC).
Muna Shatheli: (Dream, and currently MBC Masr).
Dina Abdulrahman: (Dream, Tahrir, and currently CBC).
Mutaz Damerdash: (Mehwar, and currently Hayat).
Rula Kharsa: (Hayat and Currently Sada El Balad).
ON TV is the only channel that maintained its entire staff of presenters like Yusri Foda, Rim Majed, Jaber Qarmoti, and has recently recruited Lilyan Dawod and Amr Khafaji as presenters in evening programs. However, this doesn’t result from a change in media; rather, it is related to the nature of the channel as the only news channel in Egypt.
Egypt TV, although it got rid of all supporters of Mubarak like Tamer Amin, Khairi Ramadan and Lamis Hadid, has not yet presented new faces that could restore the audience. This could be described as a temporary purification action intended to get rid of popularly refused faces without replacing them with faces that may side with the people, rather than with the regime whether military or the Muslim Brotherhood.
Paradoxically, the three names strongly nominated for job positions on the Egyptian TV didn’t find alter spaces by the end of the temporary purification. Hamdi Qandeel did not stay long in Tahrir channel; Husain Abdulghani worked for Ennahar channel for few months only and was nominated for the head position in the government Nile News channel; and Hafez Mirazi who worked for Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya and was nominated for presenting an evening program on the Egyptian TV, now appears on Dream TV twice a week.
The only media figure the revolution caused to be absent is Hana Samri who has not succeeded to go back with a new program after her program “48 Hours” presented on Mehwar channel was stopped to be replaced by “Haddotah Masreyah” program which is presented by her colleague Sayed Ali. Though both of them are accused of being anti-revolution, Ali, contrarily to Samri, succeeded in maintaining his presence on TV, but no indicator assures that the audience is watching his program.
The same applies to Tamer Amin who, out of all the presenters of “Maser Ennahar Dah” program, is of the staff of the Egyptian TV. However, Amin didn’t think of presenting news once again and insisted on maintaining his presence in talk shows, only to be faced with audience negligence.
All leaderships of public newspapers have been replaced many times after the revolution; however, none has been able to prove itself as a substitute for the previous leaderships supporting the former regime. It is as if those appointing the leaderships deliberately chose the ones unfit for media consumption.
Receiving the largest share of popular dislike, chief editors of newspapers under Mubarak, like Abdullah Kamal, Osama Saraya, Muhammad Ali Ibrahim and Magdi Gallad, failed to restore their presence on TV as presenters or even analysts. Only Hamdi Rizk, who was the last editor in chief of Al-Musawar magazine under Mubarak, is presenting his daily program on Sada El Balad channel. Political analysts and journalists of Mubarak Era who are not direct members of the Policies Committee of the dissolved National Party have maintained their presence on TVs, which means that supporting the revolution is not taken into consideration in this regard. Some of them supported the revolution formally only to turn against it in favor of the Military Council in the transitional period.
Accordingly, can a real change be expected without changing the faces representing the regime in public and private media? After all, all those who denied their attitudes in Mubarak’s era are re-practicing the same oriented policy, but with new attitudes and different screens. And if changing of faces is a necessity, does the unchanging of those manipulating the brains of the audience mean that nothing has changed in Egypt?
