Egypt 's Press Freedom Issue And How The Government Is Responsible

In the past, freedom was not being persecuted for having different opinions and it was a new start, where everyone is equal. Freedom wasn’t in most parts of the world; in fact Freedom House showed the statistic of the freedom of the press from 1987 and 2014 and in 1987 fifty-seven percent of the worlds freedom of the press wasn’t free and in 2014 only thirty-two percent of the press wasn’t free. This show that people are learning the importance of freedom

“Words of Fire,” by Anthony Collings, details the lives of different journalists in regards to free press and covering potentially dangerous stories. Anthony Collings is a former CNN reporter who shifted his focus from reporting to telling the story of journalists who have come under fire in a power struggle between government and free press. Collings puts free press into a spectrum, on one side there is the United States, where the press is largely free, and on the other side there are places like North Korea or China where press is largely restricted by the government. Collings does not focus on these extremes, but rather the places in the middle where there is an ongoing struggle between state power.

Almost a year ago, Egypt broke into civil unrest when protesters flooded Tahrir Square, demanding the end of Hosnia Mubarak’s regime. Although Mubarak stepped down within two weeks, Egypt is worse off today than it was last January. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), which played a vital role in the January revolution, has now become a violent and oppressive force. On the twenty-ninth of December 2011, the SCAF raided seventeen Egyptian, German, and US run NGOs in search of proof of illegal foreign funding.1 In a statement (A/HRC/18/NGO/77) submitted by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), and the Center for Egyptian Women’s

Freedom of press  has been shown to be highly correlated with high literacy, especially high political literacy. When people read more and understand their political situation better, they can better make their own opinions and evaluate whether or not their particular politicians are supporting their beliefs. Because it's the key to security and also public information.

It was believed by many people that Morsi done very little to change the country. I do believe Morsi was the president who was going to take the country forward because he strengthened Egypt’s links with other countries. Through the influence of the deep state president Morsi was put across as being a bad president. There is a website – morsimeter.com which recorded the progress of the president through his first 100 days of presidency from the website it is clear that president Morsi was continuously making changes in the country. Morsi was the right president for the country. He wanted to do what was best for the country however the deep state didn’t provide him with the cooperation that he needed. I fully understand why people would protest against Morsi especially when they think he ordered the killing of his own people. In the end the military has ended up killing Egyptian citizens, who is there to stop them now? They arrested Morsi for allegedly doing something they are now doing themselves. Whether Morsi was a good president or not it doesn’t really matter the Military should not involve themselves, the military coup defeated the purpose of democracy and in my mind has put Egypt back to square one.

Free press plays a important role in our democratic society. It facilitates an open flow of information, it informs citizens, it acts as vessel to hold the government accountable. Free press is also protected under the First Amendment because it has a duty to expose corruption within the government. The government could not offer enough proof that making the report public posed a real threat to national security. Yet they achieved the opposite and it was thought that publishing the report could help inform and educate citizens on policies in

Human beings are influenced by what they see, hear, or read on the news. Today we have several sources to receive news: newspapers, internet, and radio. However, with this information people come to question what is truly the truth. The Cable News Network (CNN) displays footage of current events happening all around the world. This well-known 24-hour news broadcasting system began to change its traditional pattern of news began to encapsulate the way media directs the foreign policy formulation. For the individuals behind the scenes, including policy makers and academics, the 1990’s was a time of media empowerment and growth. Piers Robinson thesis in the “CNN effect revisited” is the ways in which the media influences foreign policy formulation, socially and politically. In his argumentative essay, Robinson discusses the development of foreign policy since the “war on terror” and the “humanitarian war.” Additionally, Robinson discusses the ways media intervened with political decisions and how the media’s voice created military action. The media that has the privilege to voice opinions, can result in less freedom for the press

The corruption after the re-election was devastating. “You can say I never knew or experienced any other regime, I can summarize it in one word CORRUPTION in everything in our life,” said Hanan. The government has a tight grip on the people. Hanan explained the difficulty,“I know I can't do any legal governmental paper work without paying a bribe. If not it will take longer or might not [get] done.” Many opposing political figures and young activists became imprisoned without trials. The State Security Intelligence (SSI) kept the Egyptians locked in fear for years. The Emergency law allowed the SSI to violate human rights of the accused without a trial. The government maintained control over many of Egypt's primary economic levers such as banking, tourism oil, the Suez Canal, manufacturing, media, etc. These government employees are underpaid wreaking havoc on Egypt's economy, rapidly dissolving the middle class.

Next, civilization should never allow censorship of the news media. The United States where freedom of speech is a constitutional right censorship of the news media can be attempted. For instance, in the late 70’s, President Richard M. Nixon tries to suppress information about the Watergate break in; and trying to subvert the news media with intimidation.

Protest by civilians and rebels are common in Iran. Protests about religion and politics are the norm in Iran where physical conflicts will the effect of these protests. This instance is different from the protests and the Iranian Revolution before. The government authorities have made efforts to shut down media in Iran. There is set policy put into motion on July 7th, 1999 of keeping out journalists from foreign countries, so the “communication is barred” (“Student”). In retaliation of this policy, students

Under that ‘state of emergency’, the government has the right to imprison individuals for any period of time, and for virtually no reason, thus keeping them in prisons without trials for any period. The political police may use intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture and execution. It infiltrates other coercive agencies of the state, such as the regular police and the armed forces, to ensure their compliance. ” this state of emergency causing strong dissatisfaction of Egyptian, the citizens live under monitoring and political terror, human rights and political rights could not be gained.

Egypt is facing a deep threat to human rights due to violent confrontations between the Egyptian Government and the revolutionary groups. Navi Pillay has stated her worry about Egyptian people when in a press communication said: “[she] hopes that the rule of law and a system of government that respects the human rights of all Egyptians –men and women- can be quickly re-established”. Several experts have voiced their concern in regard of the way human rights have been dismissed by several people; they stated the death poll have raised over 600 including women, young people, and members of the media. “These serious violations of international human rights law must not remain unpunished,” they underscored.

Freedom of the press is part of the five main freedoms represented in the first amendment of the constitution of the United States. The constitution was ratified in 1791 putting freedom of the press in full development. Since then many cases have evolved with this freedom, and the freedom had some role of developing future amendments and technology in modern day. Freedom of the press had a history even before its ratification, it helped to solve many court cases, and is used throughout modern times.

The end of a bloody thirty year battle has caused Eritrean government to allow unfair treatment of its civilians including torture, unfair imprisonment and do not allow freedom of expression. Eritrea’s government has control of everything that happens inside of its own country.Most citizens of Eritrea do not have the common knowledge to know that the events that occur there are lawfully wrong. In Eritrea every person has to do what the government tells them or they will be imprisoned and punished. Information from most incidents that happen in the country of Eritrea never leave because there is no government press to release the information.The lack of freedom of press helps the government from the spread of its acts being carried outside

I was 18 when we moved to the United States from Cameroon in 2010. I had always known I wanted to be in journalism, yet had little knowledge of how the media worked or what being a journalist even entailed. I had a passion for telling stories, and zero experience or hope that I would someday be able to do so in a way that affects everyday people, and effects positive change. As far as I knew, journalism was the ruling government’s tool for communicating what it deemed fit for public knowledge, and stifling any information that remotely threatened the political status quo. Only in the following years would I come to grasp the power of media and communication, in a journey that has led me to this very moment.