Polarization in Egypt’s political scene leads to media bias

BY SALMA EL SAEED

After June 30, polarization in the Egyptian political scene has affected Egyptian media and the nation as a whole.

Media practitioners in Egypt believe that since the June 30 uprising, many media outlets have begun to show bias in their broadcasted content.

“Both state-owned and private media have agendas but ever since June 30, these agendas have started leaning more towards propaganda,” said Farah Yousry, editor-in-chief of Egypt Independent newspaper.

Yousry, who is an AUC alumna and former Caravan editor, added that this trend towards disseminating biased content based on an institution-wide agenda began after the January 25 Revolution.

“Before the revolution, the people and the media were oppressed and they didn’t know the ceiling of their freedom.  The revolution helped them realize the space they had to express their views; they had so much freedom,” Yousry told The Caravan.

Heba Fahmy, a Nile TV anchor, said that TV channels are often biased in favor of the ruling regime. While official channels are directly controlled by the state, private channels are based on the owner’s views; which are often very similar to those of the government.

Fahmy said that bias exists everywhere to some degree, not just in Egypt. She added that the fact that television channels tend to present one point of view and base their broadcasted content on a sole perspective is unacceptable.

The anchor emphasized that since June 30, many media channels are focused on guiding public opinion in a certain direction and consequently ignore many other issues that should be tackled.

She believes that, although journalists are given freedom of speech, they should still remain ethical and professional in their work.

AUCians have also weighed in on the media’s performance over the past few years.

Bosayna Fahim, a business administration senior, believes that the media has always been biased in one way or another.

“The only difference now is that the gap between both sides of the story have become so obvious if you compare different media sources,” she says.

She added that prior to June 30, many outlets tried to appear neutral, but with the outrage throughout the country, some started resorting to picking sides and fail to portray all perspectives.

Caliber,  Caliber, Caliber

Yousry pointed to another issue that has affected Egyptian media: the caliber of hosts has declined, as there seems to be less professional requirements for such a position and that nowadays, it is easier to attain such job.

“These people are like preachers at the Friday prayers and they feed the public opinion because TV is the major source of information for Egyptians,” she said.

Yousry and Fahmy commented on slogans that began appearing on several TV channels since June 30, which  favor a specific political stance.

Fahmy believes that the role of successful journalists is to give their audience information without emphasizing their opinion(s).

But, this stopped being the case here in Egypt. She added that some TV channels now receive direct instructions about the content they can air.

Cleansing the Media?

Egyptian journalism has been criticized for several years now and the Egyptian people have accused the media of being extremely biased.

During the past few years, people have demanded to “cleanse” the media in Egypt.

Yousry believes that although there are existing laws outlining a specific code of conduct and ethics for journalists to follow, they are not being respected or enforced.

She added that these laws must be imposed on all media professionals; a new generation of journalists must be instilled with a code of conduct and a strong sense of ethics.

Fahmy, on the other hand, said that state television should not exist at all, as this is a direct way for the government to control public opinion. She then stated that media independence would allow for increased professionalism.

“Egyptian television needs to have an international voice and we will not get that unless we are independent from our government,” she said.

Millions of protesters took to the streets on June 30 to demonstrate against ex-president Mohamed Morsy who was removed from power on July 3 by Egyptian army chief General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi.

Ever since, TV channels have been in favor of the interim government, with limited coverage of the Muslim Brotherhood perspective.