Between absolute freedom and strict rules

DEDI Media Club (DMC), a subsidiary of the Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute, held its meeting titled ” Media Charter of Honor: between absolute freedom and strict rules” in Cairo on Monday, October 1, 2012. This topic was chosen because of its importance, especially after the development of the new Egyptian constitution. In Fact, the Egyptian media is in need of radical change starting from legislation and laws and ending with codes of honor and the status of media in the new constitution.  Egyptian journalists and media persons are concerned with the freedom of media given the fact that a single point of view (considered as conservation) is holding the reins of power after the January 25 revolution. Although there are significant political changes, a democratic reform as well as promises to end media corruption and create a new media that reflects the reality of the Egyptian society with all its variations, the current state of Egyptian media doesn’t seem to be very promising especially with the state of lawlessness taking place in society.

Media professionals, regardless of their positions and classifications, believe that there are attempts to usurp their freedom and violate freedom of opinion and expression in general. Also, most of them believe that the Egyptian media must progress and that it is suffering from a lot of distortions. Some of the most important topics discussed, by speakers and participant experts specialized in the field of media, include:

• Legislation, Egyptian media charter of honor and the current status of Egyptian media.
• Self-regulation of media work
• Diversity in the Egyptian media.
• Digital (electronic) Media and variables in the media environment in Egypt
• Freedom of media in the new constitution.