On 9 October, 27 demonstrators protesting attacks against churches were murdered outside Egypt’s state TV building. Yasmine El-Rashidi asks why the media is silencing one side of the story
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Several Egyptian writers and journalists published blank columns in the country’s newspapers, in protest against the “military interference” of the press.
A number of independent writers, including Belal Fadl, Naglaa Bedir and Tarek El-Shenawy, wrote only a uniform note in their regular columns: “I did not write today in protest against censorship, confiscation of newspapers and the presence of military censors on papers.”
Other opinion columnists from the daily El-Youm El-Sabee newspaper — Abdel Rahman Youssef, Akram El-Kasas, Saied El-Shahat and Alaa El-Shafei — followed the lead of the lead, also leaving their columns blank.
The “blank columns” campaign follows a range of recent attacks on the press from authorities. Recently, there have been two raids on the Al Jazeera offices within a month, editions of two newspapers have been seized and destroyed, features have been blocked, and official warnings have been sent to Egyptian satellite TV channels regarding the content of political programmes.
Some writers, including Amr Hamzawy from newspaper Shorouk, wanted to join the campaign, but were prevented from doing so by their editors.
“I wanted to leave my column blank today but I couldn’t, so, instead, I am writing an opinion piece under the name of ‘Whitening the Column’ about the campaign,” Hamzawy told Ahram Online.
It is believed that the government is planning a further clampdown on the media ahead of parliamentary polls next month.
Three columnists for the Egyptian independent daily Al-Tahrir will not be publishing their regular columns in protest at what they view as censorship by the current military rulers. Belal Fadl, Omer Taher, and Nagla Bedir have been openly critical of policies made by the transition government, and are protesting the decision of authorities to stop the publication of a piece critical of Egypt’s intelligence service last week.
Maikel Nabil Sanad is entering his 42nd day of hunger strike in protest against a three-year sentence imposed by a military court for criticising the army. He spoke to Shahira Amin
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