NEWSLETTER - Canada Egypt Business Council

CEBC
Events
Emad Adib then assumed the floor. Adib has a
celebrated career in the media; his career started
as a journalist and culminated in his ownership
of a renowned publishing house. He now hosts
a show called “Behodoo’’ (literally calmly). In
contradiction with his predecessors, he pointed
out to the audience, that it is the decision-maker
after 30 June of the current year, which should
be the focus of attention. 30 June of this year is
when a civil president assumes power in Egypt,
as SCAF hands over power to him or her, after the
presidential elections have taken their course. He
added that both media and advertisements will be
a factor in forming the outcome of the presidential
race. “The amount of money that is projected to
be spent on the presidential elections, from within
and without Egypt, exceeds 1.5 billion Egyptian
pounds in some estimates,” Adib said. He deduced
from his eye-opening statistic that whoever owns
the funds will be the true decision-maker in the
process. He also mentioned, in witty sarcasm,
the undignifying bribes, with which votes and
notarizations are purchased from people. “Therefore,
I would like to tell you the good news. The people will not choose the coming president.
You will not choose the coming president,” he said. He added that for the future president,
to have to collect fund that amount to over a billion Egyptian pound, will have to pledge
his allegiance to his generous funders.
He continued to say that one of the problems the media is facing now is that it is being
dragged in battles peripheral to the main issue at hand. He added that there is confusion
among many now between an opinion and a piece of news; between an impression
and a fact. He moved on to talk about a phenomenon, which he dubbed “the activist
media person”, saying that such cadre should not be found except in media outlets that
are explicitly affiliated to a specific faction of the political spectrum and he cited Fox
Channel as one example. He added that in agreement with both previous speakers, there
cannot be complete neutrality in journalism, while there should be professionalism that
stipulates objectivity. In the absence of both aspects, Adib deduced “we are living a
phase in which news media…is forging the will of the people.”
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