Anas El-Fiqi: Egyptian media is for all Egyptians
Egypt, Politics, 3/20/2007

"The Egyptian state will never allow non-Egyptians to own media in Egypt," Information Minister Anas El-Fiqi said yesterday at a meeting with students of the Mass Communication College of Cairo University.

The Egyptian Information Minister said Egyptian media is for all Egyptians and the private sector could work in the field under mechanisms and laws ensuring non-monopolistic practices.

Within this context Fiqi highlighted the importance of completing studies on the establishment of a national agency for organizing video and audio broadcasting.

Fiqi affirmed that the Egyptian media is deeply rooted and well-entrenched, noting that the Egyptian media output faces fierce competition both at the quality and freedom levels.

Restructuring of entities and jobs in the state would be implemented in a way that preserves jobs, the Egyptian information minister said.

Fiqi denied that the Radio and Television Union was planning to buy a number of TV channels.

He also expected the volume of media industry to increase to LE 6 billion in 2012, compared to the current LE 1 billion, through the launch of several private TV channels.

He believed that media gets its power from economic independence. Without such independence, it would be so hard to talks about freedom of expression, Fiji said.

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