Position Paper III: Authoritarian Media

 Freedom of Speech and the ability to report news uninhibited has long been a fight for journalists and citizens around the world. We often take for granted how carelessly we can post our political opinions or speech of our grievances on a public platform without lawful reprimand. The fact that it is 2020, and there are still many countries whose citizens are being restricted and censored is astounding. And taking it a step further, that the news instead reports false information to make the government look better in the public eye. They feed their citizens false information and silence anyone who would step in and report the facts. 

While this sort of behavior is expected in military dictatorships and other form of total control government systems, this sort of behavior still holds a tight grip over countries that have recently begun to fly the banner of freedom and democracy. 

The country of Egypt has an immensely long history. Often, when thinking of the country, people have a more ancient view. They think of pharaohs, sphinxes, and pyramids, but that is ancient history. The truth is the modern history of Egypt is a country that has been passed through several hands of power none of which truly encourages Freedom of Press or Speech. 

In 1952, Egypt led a revolution that gave them a democratic system of government. Their fragile new government was soon overtaken by dictator Honsi Mubarak in 1981. For 29 years, Murbarak ruled until he was overthrown, and in 2011, a new form of government was established: republicanism with a semi-presidential system. And while they no longer claim to be a dictatorship who holds on to that same level of control over their people, that is not necessarily the reality. 

While democracies and republics pride themselves in the value of the people having a voice in government, that can't be true if the voice of the people were restricted. Can you truly have the input of the people if what the people think is filtered and censored? 

In July of 2018, Egyptian government implemented the Media Regulation Law that restricts freedom of speech in the press specifically reports made by journalists. This requires one to get a license (of which they have to pay 250,000 Egyptian pounds as well as several other legal hurtles to obtain one) to publish news/information regarding the country. This includes corporations outside of Egypt if they intend to use primary sources such as local radio or broadcasting networks to get their information. 

So while Egypt claims to be a republic of sorts, a deeper dive into this Media Regulation Law shows that the voice of the people is choked. Current reports tell of how the government is really cracking down on the rights of their people. 

"Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi secured a second term in a largely unfree and unfair presidential election in March, his security forces have escalated a campaign of intimidation, violence, and arrests against political opponents, civil society activists, and many others who have simply voiced mild criticism of the government. The Egyptian government and state media have framed this repression under the guise of combating terrorism, and al-Sisi has increasingly invoked terrorism and the country’s state of emergency law to silence peaceful activists." Source.

So any news published that does not pass their censorship is deemed as treason and terrorism, and that is the cause for unfair arrests and prosecution. The people are trying to speak out, but they government is doing a lot of silence them. Because of people protesting, the government has now put more restrictions on their freedom of speech. 

They are particularly attacking LGBT community, artists, atheists, and from hundreds of people of different ethnicities as public terrorists. And with the courts in their back pocket, the trials held are biased and unlawful if there is a hearing. Many people framed as terrorists are taken without trial, hearing, or a chance to plea innocence. As of 2019, twenty journalist were placed under arrest and silenced from speaking out further against the government. 

But when filtering through Egyptian news, these are not the things covered. A day ago, reports were made that President Sissi released satirical comedic Shady Abu Zeid from jail along with several other activists. While it was said that this gesture was one of generosity (as portrayed to make the president look better despite his long lists of unlawful arrests and attempts to silence his people) other outside sources believe he had other motivations. 

Abu Zeid was a Youtube sensation. He used satirical humor to oppose the government and talk about controversial issues. He was able to get away with it for so long because by placing it under humor and using metaphors to convey his ideas, he was not in violation of the law. But there was also no quetstio what point he was trying to make. It was not until he recorded himself at a protest where he inflated condoms and wrote "Young people love the police" on them did he get arrested. He was then detained in jail for two years without a hearing. 

It wasn't until last week was he released. He is now on probation and must report to the police station twice a week. While many of his followers are happy, most speculate it was not a change in heart that compelled the president to release Zeid. 

It is a known fact that current U.S. president Donald Trump and Sissi are on good terms. President Trump has even been quoted saying that Sissi was his "favorite dictator." So with just a few weeks before the election, and Biden doing well in the polls, Sissi was looking for a gesture of goodwill to be in a good standing with the potential new president of the United States. While none of this has been confirmed by him, that is the current and most likely guess as to why Sissi would have this sudden change of heart. 

Egypt just goes to show that even countries that fly the banner of republic or democracy do not always hold to those values. The remanence of past dictatorships still have a strong hold, and still play an active role in suppressing news and information to the people. They do their best to have a strong hold on the media so the injustice of their tyranny can't be spread to the people.