The Press Syndicate issued a statement on Saturday announcing that three committees were formed to prepare the agenda of the sixth conference of Egyptian journalists, scheduled for the first week of October. The committees will examine the future and economics of journalism and press legislation and freedom.

Head of the Press Syndicate Khaled Al-Balshi said Al-Ahram journalist Abdallah Abdel-Salam will chair the Future of Journalism Committee, economic researcher Abdel-Fattah Al-Gebali will chair the Economics of Journalism Committee, and journalist Mohamed Bassel will preside over the Committee on Press Legislation and Freedoms.

“The syndicate’s board has also formed an advisory committee of 100 journalists from state-owned, independent, and opposition press organisations and former syndicate heads Galal Aref, Mamdouh Al-Wali, Diaa Rashwan, Yehia Qalash, and Abdel-Mohsen Salama to help draft the conference agenda,” said Al-Balshi.

Al-Ahram political analyst Wahid Abdel-Meguid, who will serve as the conference’s secretary-general, said “the Press Syndicate is working hard to make the conference a success and ensure it formulates effective solutions to the problems facing Egyptian journalists”.

“Journalists currently face a crisis of freedom, a crisis in their financial conditions and a crisis pertaining to press legislation.”

To prepare for the conference and reach a consensus over its agenda, the syndicate held meetings with MPs, senators, the chairs of most Egyptian press organisations and editors-in-chief of print and electronic publications.

Egypt is in desperate need of greater press freedoms but “this will never be possible without changing the law and increasing the number of independent and opposition newspapers,” said Al-Balshi.

Nor, he argued, should amendments to the Press Syndicate law be discussed without the involvement of journalists and the syndicate’s general assembly.

“The Press Syndicate law was issued in 1970,when Egypt was a socialist country governed by a single party. It is high time the law was changed to be in line with the current constitution which states that Egypt is a country based on political and partisan pluralism.”

Press Syndicate Secretary-General Gamal Abdel-Rehim points out that “10 years ago, Egyptian newspapers were selling millions of copies, and now they barely sell hundreds,” a situation that cannot be blamed on the growth of electronic media “but is the result of a lack of press freedom and restrictive legislation”.

It is also very costly and difficult to obtain a licence to publish a newspaper which Abdel-Rehim says “goes against the constitution which states that Egyptians have the right to publish and own newspapers”.

Meanwhile, the Press Syndicate’s Freedoms and Legislations Committee met on Sunday to discuss a draft access to information law. Committee head Ali Bassel said the syndicate’s draft law conforms with Article 68 of the constitution which states that citizens have a right to freely access information, data, statistics and official documents which the state must provide in a transparent manner.

Listing recent initiatives addressing access to information, Bassal noted that “a committee formed by the Supreme Council for Media Regulation completed a draft law and sent it to the cabinet and the House of Representatives, neither of which discussed the draft.”

“The draft was also sent to the National Dialogue’s Board of Trustees which also failed to discuss it.”

In the policy statement delivered before the House of Representatives on 8 July, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli vowed that his government would regulate to ensure journalists have free and effective access to information. In September 2021, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi also hinted that legislation would be forthcoming during the launch of the National Human Rights Strategy.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 August, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly