Atlantic Council

Nothing annoys the powers that be in Egypt like the media. In a speech after Friday prayers a few weeks ago, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi warned the public about the dangers of foreign-funded satellite channels, saying they distort the facts and slow progress. Days later, the prime minister announced that the broadcast of Egypt’s network, Dream, would be cut on the grounds that some of its programs are broadcast from outside of Egyptian Media Production City. This is a minor infringement, which just about every channel is guilty of it, although few are reprimanded.

Dream was targeted because journalist Wael al-Ibrashi exposed a central bank document showing that President Morsi allegedly transferred 2 million EGP ($320,000) to his son residing in Saudi Arabia. In his program, al-Ibrashi explored the validity of the document and the story behind the money.

Dream is hardly the first channel to have its broadcasts cut under President Morsi, who in a short period of time, has taken suppression of freedom of the press and free expression to a new level. In fact, in just a few months, Morsi's government has gone even farther than Mubarak’s regime, including dismissing editors-in-chief, attacking media outlets by name, and closing some.

With his recent decree, Morsi now has absolute control over all matters under the sun, without having to consult an elected parliament, let alone anyone at all. In short, there is nothing outside his grasp except for an independent Egyptian media, whose capacity has grown greatly over the past several years because of Egypt’s expanding market, still the largest in the Arab world.

But why have Morsi and his government resorted so crudely to censorship and shutting down channels? And if it’s because the Brotherhood believes the media is blurring facts about them, why not use their own media outlets to respond? The Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice party possess a larger media apparatus than any other political party or movement, including several news websites, a daily newspaper, and a TV channel. Yet despite all this, its media presence still seems weak.

Neutrality and objectivity, to the extent that they even make a pretense of them, are all but non-existent in the Brotherhood’s media. Entertainment is similarly scant in its media presence, primarily limited to what they call “constructive art.” This doubtless has a lot to do with the Brotherhood’s inability to attract a wider audience from outside its own circles and impedes its ability to compete in one of [the region’s] fiercest markets.

But on top of this, the Brotherhood’s lack of imagination, whether in its media presence or in its politics, is its biggest weakness. It threatens to ruin the Brotherhood’s entire project from the inside out, just as it threatens many Egyptians’ dwindling hope of escaping this nightmare we’re living through.

Faced with this media failure, the Brotherhood’s leaders, President Morsi foremost among them, can think of nothing to do but attack the media. They are, in short, repeating the very same mistakes of the previous regime, which could lead to the same results that Mubarak saw.

Ahmed Naje, a writer and journalist, works as an editor in the literary weekly Akhbar al-Adab.

Photo Credit: Reuters