Wednesday
Jan312007
al-Masri al-Youm's recent coverage
By 
Issandr El Amrani | Egypt Media
Issandr El Amrani | Egypt Media
I noted a while back that my friend/former boss Hisham Kassem had left his position as executive publisher of al-Masri al-Youm, the independent daily newspaper he launched in 2004 and that went on to become the premier source of reporting in Egypt. Many people have asked me if it has had any impact on al-Masri al-Youm's editorial line. I have not noticed anything special, except that these days it seems al-Masri seems to run a front-page article about a stories on Egypt that appear in foreign media nearly every day. Today's it's a negative FT report that touches on the Gamal/succession issue. Before that there was an Economist article, and before that a Carnegie Endowment report (and there have been others I can't remember.)
What's the bloody point? Al-Masri does a great service by doing original reporting. Who cares what other publications are saying? Why is it worth prominent placement? I hope this isn't an indicator of a loss of quality.
What's the bloody point? Al-Masri does a great service by doing original reporting. Who cares what other publications are saying? Why is it worth prominent placement? I hope this isn't an indicator of a loss of quality.
Reader Comments (3)
Yeah, I noticed that too about picking up foreign publications. As I recall, they tend to focus on the Gamal succession issue -- even if that was not what the original article was about. The FT article for instance is about the crackdown on the Brotherhood while the Masri pickup focuses on a throwaway line about Gamal being groomed for succession.
I think it's their way of highlighting the Gamal issue without saying it themselves -- and maybe a bit of that attitude that something has more credibility when appearing abroad.
Al Masri Al Yom lacks it own think tanks.
Al Ahram Weekly seems to be the only Egyptian publication to enjoy that. (By the way, they wouldn't tolerate an Arabic version to be financed by the same state-owned institution.) They have good original reporting too
But...Al Masri Al Youm continues to be the first serious, so to speak, daily ever as long as original local news are concerned.
I have to admit I haven't been following issues lately but I wanted to point out something I think is important: not many Egyptian readers read foreign publications and it would be good for them to know what's being said elsewhere. It doesn't necessarily have to be on the first page, that's true, otherwise Al-Masri al-Youm risks slipping into copying its front page ideas from other publications.