Press Freedom: Different Approaches, One Cause

Violating people’s rights of having a free press has not always been a government’s practice. According to some media experts, economic, political and professional considerations might escalate these violations and impede the free flow of information.

Discussing the issue of ‘Press Freedom” came in the seventh session of a six-week workshop organized by Al-Ahram Regional Press Institute in cooperation with the Religious News Service from the Arab World, RNSAW. The workshop is titled 'Comparing Western and Egyptian perspectives in covering current affairs'.

A blend of media experts and human rights activists presented their perspectives of the ‘press freedom’ issue. A German human rights activist and three Egyptians, a theologian, an academic and a lawyer adopted different approaches in addressing the issue, but regardless of their differences, they have worked for one cause.

“Freedom of expression exists in societies with varying degrees. The amount of freedom individuals enjoy depends on economic and political variables. Economically powerful countries tend to respect it more than countries of poor economy,” said Dr. Jihan Rachty, Former Dean of Cairo University’s faculty of Mass Communication and professor of Mass Communication at the Misr International University.

Even within the same society, there is a tendency to restrict freedom of expression at times of economic or political crisis. “In the USA, freedom of expression was restricted during the 1930s when the American economy was not doing fine. Again, after the September 11 events, we saw a similar tendency because the country experienced a crisis,” Rachty explained.

Nevertheless, government’s attempts to impose restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the media are not acceptable. “The state should not intervene in the ‘media decision’,” she added.

Violations of freedom of expression are not always due to governmental practices and interventions. “Sometimes, we find market forces negatively affecting media freedom. When the media financially depend on the advertisers, they tend to abuse the media to propagate for certain ideas that serve their interests,” Rachty said.

Agreeing with her, Amir Salem, a human rights lawyer and activist, blamed both the political regime and the journalists of violating freedom of expression. “In a country like Egypt, the political system is underdeveloped. On one hand, neither do we have a powerful democratic parliament nor active political parties that can practice democracy as it should be,” Salem said.

On the other hand, he said, journalists’ practices sometimes are threatening the right of freedom of expression. Some journalists serve the state’s institutions, specially the state’s security authority. Others blackmail the society’s public figures and businessmen. Journalists’ professional malpractices create what we call the yellow press or ‘outrageous newspapers’, Salem said.

There is a need for journalists who are conscious and who are well aware of their countries problems, Rachty and Salem stressed. “Journalists of that type do not leave a room for the state to intervene and impose more restrictions on freedom of expression,” Rachty pointed out.

Unfortunately, some journalists act like judges accusing ministers, businessmen and other public figures, but without having enough evidences or supporting documents. They fail to distinguish between being a ‘watch dog’ and being a judge. “As a journalist, you do not have the authority of labeling any figure guilty until the court rules he is guilty,” Salem said.

Due to a series of cases where Egyptian public figures fell victims of libel and slander and invasion of privacy, the government imposed more restrictions in 1996. “Egyptian journalists face imprisonment and heavy fines in libel offenses, a matter that we do not accept,” Rachty said. “Imposing heavy fines on papers violating the law of libel and slander is an appropriate sentence, but sending journalists to jail because of their opinion is not acceptable,” she added.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalist, CPJ, “Between 1998 and 2000, six Egyptian journalists were jailed for libel and other criminal offenses related to their work. Three of them have been imprisoned more than once.”

“Tough provisions in Egypt's Press Code, approved in 1996, stipulate prison sentences of up to one year for journalists convicted of defamation, or up to two years if a public official files the suit. Fines can reach £E20,000 (US$4,400) for each offense. Other crimes—such as "inciting hatred," "violating public morality," "harming the national economy," and offending a foreign head of state—carry prison sentences of one to two years,” CPJ stated in its web site, www.wjp.org

While the Egyptian perspective of freedom of expression and press freedom traces violations to the country’s political and economic problems, the German experience sounded totally different.

The German print and broadcast media are free and independent, their coverage spanning the full spectrum of political views, said Dr. Otmar Oehring, Head of Missio Human Rights Office.

Neither are fines imposed on journalists nor imprisonment sentence. When a person brings a case of libel or slander before the court, it usually rules that the same publication must run a story, of the same size and location, denying and apologizing, Oehring said.

To be continued.
Yomna Kamel