Egyptian media is very influential in Egypt and throughout the Arab World. This is thanks to a huge audience and the increasing freedom from government control. Freedom of media is guaranteed in their constitution but there were laws that still restrict this right. After the 2005 Egyptian presidential election Ahmed Selim, office director for Information Minister declared and era of "free Egyptian media".
Today Egyptian media gets much more freedom than its near past. Many of its talk shows which are mainly operated on private channels are criticizing the Government.
Egypt has two state-run national TV channels and six regional channels, but many viewers turn to pan-Arab channels for their news.
Egypt is a big force in satelitte TV. It was the first Arab nation to have its own satilitte. Its space channels are very popular in other Arab nations.
Over 5 million Egyptians had the internet in 2007. Bloggers have made themselves known with some of them actually helping with politics.
Now with more freedom, Egyptian media will only begin to progress more and more.
Very good start!
ReplyDeleteFor your next entries: would the idea of cultural imperialism apply to Egypt? How? Any good examples? Is Egypt more of an importer or exporter of media products?
Also, you mentioned that they're influential in the Middle East. Could you elaborate on that? Do they export a lot of their media to other rabic speaking countries?