Freedom of Press in Egypt

Egypt is listed as having a partly free media on the Freedom House website in 2009.

The Emergency Law, the Press Law, and provisions of the penal code circumscribe the media, despite constitutional guarantees of press freedom. Even after the Press Law in 2006 any false news and criticisms is criminal offenses that is prosecuted by authorities. The penalties can be up to $5,000 to $20,000 Egyptian dollars. The infractions can also be up to five years in prison if you criticize the president or a foreign head of state.

In May of last year,the parliament agreed to extend the Emergency Law. This gives the president the right to suspend basic freedoms, enables security forces to detain people for prolonged periods without trial, and permits the censorship and closure of newspapers in the name of national security.

Egypt is trying its hardest to become a completely free media but as newer laws pass that show its going to take some more time.

Orascom: The Egyptian Conglomerate's Expansion Strategies

The Orascom Group is Egypt's largest and most diversified conglomerate. Founded by Onsi Sawiris in 1950, it is now managed by his three sons Naguib, Samih and Nassef, each handling a different business.

There are four different departments that are run. The four are Telecom, Construction Industries, Hotels & Development and Technology Systems.

Telecom is a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in high growth markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. It operates GSM networks in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia, Bangladesh, and North Korea.

Construction Industries is a leading cement producer and construction contractor active in emerging markets. As a cement producer, OCI owns and operates cement plants in Egypt and Algeria which have a combined annual production capacity approaching 13.5 million tons. As a contractor, OCI provides engineering, procurement and construction services on industrial, commercial and infrastructure projects for public and private customers.

Hotels & Development is one of the primary designer, developer, contractor and marketing force. They lead the highly successful El Gouna (Red Sea, Egypt), Taba Heights (Sinai, Egypt), Tala Bay (Aqaba, Jordan) and The Cove (Ras El Khaimah, UAE) projects.

With Technology systems it is one of the leading IT and communications solutions providers and system integrators in Egypt.

The Orascom Group continues to build with all the things they do. This group will continue to grow and its name will be bigger and bigger.

Melody Holding

Melody Holding is the first fully integrated entertainment media conglomerate in the MENA Region that is entirely convergent with all new media.

Melody Holding spreads high quality entertainment news in addition to personalized service. Melody produces its own content, manages its own artist and creative minds. They reach out to their followers through TV, Radio, the Internet and even mobile.

They own their many services of entertainment that compares to that of Americas. Melody was started in 2002 and has brought a new outlook on entertainment in the MENA Region. This is a very big industry in the MENA Region and will grow everyday and year by year.

Media of Egypt

Egypt media is highly influential in the Arabic world and has started to gain more freedom from its government.

For years the media in Egypt has had its restrictions put on by the government. This happened because a lot of the media outlets in Egypt are owned by the government. Several journalists or broadcasters have been arrested for for breaching laws that prohibit criticism of the President, state institutions and foreign leaders, or "putting out false news harming the reputation and interests of the country". However criticism of the government continues to take place. Pan-Arab channels such as Al-Jazeera are also very popular among viewers, especially for news, as private broadcasters are forbidden to broadcast their own news, instead only focusing on entertainment or music.

But since 2005 things have started to change. With freedom of media guaranteed in their Constitution the government is starting to respect this more. With the 2005 presidential election, Ahmed Selim, office director for Information Minister Anas al-Fiqi, declared the era of a "free, transparent and independent Egyptian media." To this day he has been right with more and more restrictions being taken off of the Egyptian media.