Media & Democratisation in Cairo

Monday April 4, 2011

cairo11Published: 31 March 2011

Region: Egypt & Worldwide

Rebuilding Egyptian media for a democratic future

Egypt has been hosting the first meeting since the fall of Hosni Mubarak to bring leading domestic and international journalism educators and editors together for a debate about the future of Egyptian media after the revolution.

The conference on Rebuilding Egyptian Media for a Democratic Future took place in Cairo on 30-31 March. Click here to read the Closing statement of the International Conference.The media became a major focus for concern early on during the Egyptian revolution because of the state’s attempts to control the way events were reported. This theme has been echoed across the region as popular uprisings against repression continue.

 

Three key issues emerged from the conference in Cairo:

cairo12

  • The need to decentralise the media
  • The need to include regional voices
  • The need to review state ownership of key media

 

Cardiff University professor and Media Diversity Institute (MDI) consultant Dr Verica Rupar, together with MDI’s Executive Director Milica Pesic, attended the event and contributed a paper on ‘The Importance of Journalism Training and Education for Democratic Media’.

They focused on the ways journalism training and education can be developed to provide support for the democratisation process in Egypt.

The Media Diversity Institute has been working in Egypt since 2007 on various projects to promote inter-community dialogue and moderate voices as a means of preventing religious radicalization.

Related articles: