The presenter, Yosri Fouda, has come to symbolize what many
in Egypt see as the future of an independent and professional media after
decades of control and meddling by the regime of ousted President Hosni
Mubarak.
But the council of generals that took power from Mubarak
have implemented a series of measures in recent months that media and rights
groups say aim to restore state meddling in the media just weeks before the
country’s first parliamentary elections since the revolution. The authorities
have frozen new licenses for private satellite TV stations and are taking steps
against broadcasters they say are inciting violence or are violating their
station’s mandate.
Fouda, a former investigative reporter at the BBC and Al
Jazeera, said in a statement posted online that his decision to call off his
“The Final Word” program is a protest against “increasing efforts “to maintain
the core of the regime which people went out into the streets to bring down,
after it filled our world with corruption, immorality and treachery.”
“This is a cry from the heart,” he said. “Egypt deserves
better than this.”
An episode of Fouda’s show scheduled to run Thursday was
taken off the air. Fouda did not say whether it was his decision to scrap the
show or whether he was forced to cancel the program.
“This is my way of self-censorship, either to say the truth
or to be silent,” he said.
Fouda’s program on the private ONTV station was slated to
host a vocal critic of Egypt’s military rulers, as well as another presenter
who had interviewed two generals from the ruling military council the night
before.
They were expected to discuss the interview the night
before, when the generals avoided answering any specific questions about their
role in the crackdown on a protest a week earlier that left 27 protesters,
mostly Christians, dead. Their appearance seemed to be part of a publicity
campaign to fend off unprecedented criticism over the military’s handling of
the protests.
Instead, the program caused more anger among activists who
saw it as an attempt to evade responsibility.
Hisham Qassem, a publisher and human rights activist, said
there were “alarming” signs of the military’s meddling in media affairs. He
urged other media personalities to protest in solidarity with Fouda and other
newspapers which were recently confiscated or channels denied permits.
“They are hunting us one by one,” he said. “We need to be
informed. This is a future of a nation. There is no way we can go about it if
they start gagging us.”
Fouda covered the protests that forced Mubarak out of office
on Feb.11. Following Mubarak’s ouster, Fouda clearly sided with the protesters,
and gained credibility among viewers and many pro-reform activists for his
in-depth coverage of Egypt’s transition to democracy, which broke away from the
often sensational Egyptian media.
