What I can’t publish..

I received a lot of comments regarding what I wrote in the last two weeks about journalism where I focused on flaws in our profession in our current time, especially the human component… I was not surprised that all comments were of the same opinion… actually some of them went on detailing to the extent that I cannot published what Mr. Salah Said said for example as he gave examples of journalists from different eras.

If it has to do with me, I would not have hesitated for a moment to publish all opinions no matter wild they are… since I believe that curing inflammation hit by pus is by bursting this pus out by force in order to get rid of it and after this comes the blood to make sure that the white cells that stood to the virus and died are gone now… and it is now time for the red cells to start flooding again and do its important job.

Of what I received, I had a message from the colleague and friend Mahmoud ash-Sherbini; the earnest journalist, in which he said: “do they say that what you write is painful?... what if you told them about the really painful facts?... what will they say or do?... even some years after Mubarak came to power, we still had real newspapers and true profession leaders in journalism… we had Abdel-Rahman ash-Sharqawi, Salah Hafez, Mustafa Bahgat Badawi, Lotfi el-Kholi “before Copenhagen Declaration”, Salah Eissa “before working in Al-Qahera newspaper”, Muhammed Sayed Ahmed, Mahmoud Amin el-A’alem, Kamel Zoheiri and many other names here and there… since Mubarak insulted the researcher Dr. Muhammed Sayed Saied, journalism has been abused until our present time… those Sheikhs of profession or old-in-age journalists we have now are not comparable in their writings to some writers whom I won’t call young or youth, but I prefer to call them the new writers…

“… Hosni Mubarak had offended the profession of journalism and gave some “supposed-to-be” profession leaders gifts and privileges… also Safwat esh-Sherif granted them the “no-honor” medal… and so they fell and cared no longer but for gifts, privileges and luxury… it was normal that they used the profession for their very own benefits… and so, diligence, hardworking, mere truth, and unprecedented unique idea became no longer the criteria for assessing the journalistic work…

“… by time, journalists of the new generations got used to this shameful reality… profession leaders backed from doing their role… profiteers advanced to the frontline to make use of the grants given to them by cajoling people in authority… and so, our profession ended up in the current situation it suffers from…

“… for example, that journalist specialized in low-profile repugnant artistic interviews became the editor-in-chief of some of the biggest newly-born newspapers depending on some journalists good at writing without producing something new… then he became an announcer in a very famous satellite channel… and that light-hearted desk editor suddenly became an announcer of a TV show and is interviewing big names in order to make a big name for himself… not to mention other journalists working in satellite channels and who receive orders from security agencies…

“… I also believe that most of our present-time stars in media have not read a single book… they do not know that we have Zaki Naguib Mahmoud… and we have Naguib Mahfouz… and that there is no Zaki Naguib Mahfouz at all… what Mubarak did to journalism, culture and stagnation of cultural life of all its kinds has led to our current miserable state… everyone turned from the hardworking journalism into journalism of indulging in luxury… and so we all became words in your article diagnosing the horrible conditions of our profession… my sincere wishes to you, Sir”.

I have published the message of colleague Mahmoud ash-Sherbini as it is with the bitterness included in it… and I still have more than thirty comments other than this… some of them cannot be published in Al Ahram as I said above… however, I can say like my colleague Mr. Ahmed Abo el-Ma’ati said in his long message: “… it is a big issue that needs a series of articles for the situation is really serious and the future is not clear to a great extent that may push our profession – if we continued with the same current state – into extinction”.

For the space is limited, I will keep the comments of my colleagues and readers that I have not published for later for they represent part of the diagnosis and cure of the flaws of journalism in specific and media in general.

Now I say I believe we should give the chance for the councils recently established to produce… and let our assessment criteria be their outcome and not the persons in charge of them or their history… despite that some have noticed that if the decision maker wants to tighten the grip over any profession congregation, he brings someone they have declined before… someone they thought they have got him out of the field but one sees him again coming back as an opponent and judge in the same time… Sadat did it before when he appointed a minister for justice whom judges have already refused as a head for their congregation few days before he was nominated minister.

We shall continue later…

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on May 11, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/05/blog-post_10.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #journalism_in_Egypt

About journalism… again

I postpone writing about the recently established councils of journalism and media until later despite that I have – like many others – a lot to say… the reason behind postponing is to let those new entities work and produce something useful in the field of writing and not for the benefit of those people chosen over top of those councils… no one knows – at least me – how those people were chosen… what criteria were used to choose them… and even who chose them… I did not bother to ask or even know the answer although some of them are dear friends and colleagues to me.

However, postponing writing does not mean to stop continuing writing about the profession of journalism that I started in last week’s article… I waited for anyone of those concerned with what was written in that article to reply… not with the aim of having an empty argument… but to work together to pick our profession from the current bad state it ended up in.

Two years ago, I wrote that the first time for me to know that every profession or craft has its own congregation and each group has a leader called “Shiekh” was when I was seven years old; meaning sixty four years ago… that was when Uncle Mansour Gerges; owner of the house we used to live in, asked my father; the Arabic language and religion teacher in Al-Masaa’i Al-Mashkoura school, to be the judge in the conflict he had between him and Uncle Faam; the carpenter and owner of the carpentry workshop near to our home.

I had an order from my father to have the wooden chairs lined in the backyard of the house for them to sit on… after they drank tea, they talked and it ended up that the matter is more complicated and difficult for the man whom the two parties trusted – despite he was Muslim and they both were Christian – to be the judge… and so my father declared that they should consult the Sheikh or leader of the craft congregation; meaning Sheikh of carpenters because he is more capable of settling the matter between them.

When I grew up and studied history in Ain Shams University… I read Ibn Eias and al-Gabarti… and then I knew that there were tens of crafts’ congregations including those working in Khayamiya, blacksmiths, people working in coal, carpenters and also Warraqeen; those people working in the field of papers and books… that was until Muhammed Ali Pasha started building his new modern state… he tightened his grip around crafts’ congregations and started establishing factories… he gathered the young men who were to be masters in every craft.

I also knew that people working in all those fields used to make deals with each other by verbal agreement; meaning the word… their word represented more binding commitment than written contracts… and the honor of any man or Osta[1] – that later changed to mean Ostaz or master in Arabic – has to do with the respect he had for the word or promise he gave… any one of them, no matter his losses were, used to say: “I gave my word and cannot take it back”… also the Osta or head of work used to respect the word that anyone of aides gives because he believed that the honor of his aide is exactly his… and that the reputation of the place exceeds the rank of the one who made and deal and gave the word.

Also, books of history and folklore is full of funny stories about the traditions and habits of those crafts’ congregations… for example, bakers and people working in dying used to start their work by taking off all their clothes and then wearing the outfit or Galabiya of work over their naked body… and so if anyone of them got angry and decided to quit work, he rushes to wear his clothes… but once the Osta comes to appease him, he tells him “calm down and take off your clothes”.

And even thieves of Gypsies, bandits and pickpockets have their traditions and agreed-upon commitments where they respect each other areas of influence and in-between connections… reaching to Manaaser; plural of Mansar or the home of eagle… such name was given to the professional strong gangs, especially in the countryside… each Mansar used to have its leader that decides its policy and gives his word that he is willing to sacrifice his life and not go back on it.

Maybe the profession of journalism is the historical evolution of the profession of Warraqeen… and like the rest of professions, it had its own leaders generation after generation… my generation used to read for Muhammed el-Tabe’i, Ahmed el-Sawi Muhammed, Muhammed Zaki Abdel-Kader and also Taha Hussain who combined between working in literature, University and journalism… also al-Akkad… not to mention the twin brothers Mustafa and Ali Amin along with the big master Mr. Heikal… also Mr. Ahmed Bahaa ed-Din and Kamel esh-Shennawi…

I believe I was a so close friend to an old man who stayed young in heart until he left our world; that was my mentor and friend Kamel Zoheiri… I also was close to Mr. Muhammed Ouda and many others… but despite their different political and intellectual orientations and ideologies, they all had their own traditions and criteria to distinguish the good from the bad in our profession.

Then…

Then happened what happened in Egypt and many professions, including journalism, deteriorated… and now we see newspapers opening to close after a month or two because its owner wanted to make some money and just go… we also knew newspaper forcing journalists to sign their resignation alongside signing their job application… others asking the journalist to pay for employing him… others do not pay salaries and insist journalist must pay his social insurance from the allowance he receives from the syndicate; meaning he is paying money for the owner of the newspaper…etc.

Later we had another phase in the course of journalism… that was when TV shows started and began to have an audiance… such field has now many considerations that made it almost like Mafia world that man cannot penetrate unless he has the required tools… here the journalist turned from a star spreading his shine over papers and who gains his credibility from what he writes and the battles and stances he adopts into a different kind of star where lights are shed on him instead of shining from him… and maybe he himself is a star-like dim planetoid; meaning that light falls on it from other source that makes him look like a shining moon!

Amid all this, many traditions, ethics and customs that once ruled our profession decayed… and everyone is now dealing with bad intentions in advance… and that “we are all thieves, my friend” so do not say “I gave my word” or “this is a moral commitment”… but come and bring your lawyer with you and write and sign your contract according to temporal and penalty clauses!

I believe that some – including me – still behave like dinosaurs of political and intellectual honor… once they are asked to write in a newspaper, they start writing without paying attention to financial dues, article space or publishing period… and in many times they write for free… and when they do, it is after they study and think well about what they write… they aim at providing information, if not a stating one, then it is historical, literary, folkloric, political… etc.

The question now: does journalism still have sheikhs or leaders of the profession, or prominent figures for our congregation?... and if the answer is yes, do anyone of those has the knowledge, cultivation, manners and behavior comparable to other former figures I mentioned some of them above?

This could be the subject of my next article in this space.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on May 4, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/05/blog-post_4.html

#alahram #ahmad_elgammal #journalism_in_Egypt

---

[1] Meaning master head in profession.

Again… words angering journalists

Two years ago, I wrote and published these coming lines regarding journalism in Egypt, however, a lot of incidents took place… so here I am republishing what I wrote before hoping to find someone in our syndicate and the recently established official councils who might read and care:

“It happened that I have been and still am managing a branch office of one of the biggest Arab newspapers of a Gulf country here in Egypt for more than thirty years… it also happened that I have seen the bad handwritings of many big writers and was able to decipher them… I also revised the articles of tens of journalists whom some of them became stars in media… I also used to reformulate the writings of some of those and almost go mad of the poor Arabic grammar and wrong spellings at some and absence of journalistic integrity at some others!

That’s why I have been and still am calling upon the syndicate of journalists to stand against such illiteracy of all kinds in the field… either journalistic, cultural, political or morale… such thing that went viral in the journalism field and even some are boasting about it considering that since they made it to the chair of editor-in-chief or TV screens – despite their complete ignorance – then that means they are genius and one of a kind!

It also happened many times that I knew many colleagues who were interested in union work of the syndicate, practiced it and even became experts in this… I also met people of the same kind; those who were hosted during the preparations for the elections of the syndicate council or head… here, there is a lot of details I may later write about and publish… from my point of view, of course!

In such regard, I remember when I disagreed to the unanimity of the Nasserist journalists to elect a certain person as head of the syndicate… and the punishment I received was depriving me from writing my periodical article in the Nasserist newspaper of Garidat Al-Arabi… not to mention the insults and defamation that nailed me.

My colleagues in the syndicate of the top leaders and symbols of fighting for the freedom of journalism and public freedoms know what I know about some other figures in the syndicates who enjoy this pre-described illiteracy… they also know about others who have made illegal profits from Hajj and Umra trips, consumer durables, lands, real estates, advertisements, Sheikh al-Fasi, normalization with the Zionist enemy and illegal practices of enlisting secretaries and cronies as members in our prominent syndicate… despite all this and despite recurrence of such cases and bragging in public about such violations of the syndicate’s ethics and morals, the syndicate did not adopt a decisive action against any of those who committed such awful deeds.

I write all this and am ready to give more details while the journalists’ community is going through what can be regarded as real struggle for the freedom of journalism and for maintaining the texts and spirit of the Egyptian constitution in this field since I have always believed that the best and nearest way to defend the freedom of journalism and rights of the journalists’ community is that this community – through the syndicate and by the efforts of its leaders – shall do its fundamental duties… atop of these is retraining hundreds of journalists inflicted with the pre-described illiteracy; proper pronunciation, spelling, grammar, profession rules, cultural, political and even morale illiteracy.

Also above the list of those duties is maintaining discipline of the profession practices in order to prevent journalism from being the open door to stab our country in its security, cohesion, strength, balance and role either on the regional or international domain… we cannot let it be that the journalist be like that surgeon who went declaring that he had to sacrifice the lives of mother and baby for the operation to succeed!

I here wonder with others: when will the syndicate of journalists question those members who consider themselves stars in the media and political work arenas over suspicions that may reach into real facts concerning their fortunes, projects and their connections to media and political capitals either domestically or abroad… also over suspicions of the same level confirming that they combine between working in journalism and working to other entities with opposite interests?

We all are against any deviation from the executive authority over the constitution, even if done by law… we also stand against any tyranny of any kind or degree practiced by any entity that may turn us back to times that yielded all what we witness today of fragmentation, dismantle, destruction and terrorism… so you can imagine the case when such deviation and tyranny is practiced against journalism and freedom of speech… we all have to stand against all what I mentioned about the journalists’ community.

I know that some of those dear to me will get angry because of what I am writing right now… and I can almost hear some of them angrily blaming me: “this is always you… choosing the worst timing to express your opinion as if you want to look different… all what you said is right by the timing is not right at all… you should not have mentioned these faults while the journalists’ community is fighting a decisive battle like this”.

I here say that the battle time is the best time to achieve all this… it provides the best environment to correct faults, to make things right and to get rid of all those not belonging to our profession… moreover, it’s not only about journalists… it’s about the whole country… since our country is going through a battle that is fiercer and more dangerous than any of the ones it had before starting from the invasions of Hyksos, Persians, Greeks and Romans… to the British and Israeli occupations.

According to the same standards, it is not possible that the army, police and the whole people are going through such battle then we find some journalists stabbing our country in the back with false information that discourage those fighters, undermine the will of those resisting, let the public masses question and even lose trust in those in charge of defending our country, its independence, civilization, culture and future… it is also not possible to have such confusing mix between the right to think, express freely, the right to possess information and other rights directly connected to the profession of journalism and between misleading and undermining the security of our country… therefore, the necessary duty of defending the rights of journalism is absolutely connected to the necessary duty of defending our country, its security, civilization, culture and future.

These were words in my mouth that I long refrained from saying… but compared to the enormous challenges Egypt is facing, I had to spit them out.

I believe the real battle journalists and their syndicate should fight is the radical change to amend the journalists’ community into order to eliminate any professional dysfunctionality… and to those who will get angry because of the “timing”, I ask: when was that right time that never occurred during more than half a century of the syndicate life?... why has no one started reforming and correcting in times when the syndicate was not going through any sacred battle?”.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on April 27, 2017.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2017/04/blog-post_27.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #Egypt #journalism #journalists #syndicate_of_journalists_in_Egypt

Journalists’ biggest fight

I thank all who asked about the absence of this article for the last two weeks. Actually, what the writer writes has no use if no one is reading, following, and interacting with him either by criticizing or evaluation. I admit I had to stop due to a mental and psychological exhaustion resulting from my inability to answer the traditional question: what next?!

What after writing, diagnosing, and prescribing solutions? What after tackling arguments and practices of movements opposing stability, development, and integration of roles between our national army, the rest of state’s institutions and different classes and groups of people? What after knowing that a specific group of intellectuals are the only people invited for having discussions with the president while many of them have previously sat to Sadat, Mubarak and Mursi and later cursed them?! Many of those invited have never had a single real fight against muslim brotherhood and their likes. However, all intellectuals are branded by this bunch!

During the last two weeks, many issues worth tackling and giving opinion came to the surface. I had something to say – regardless whether it has any significance or use – and I don’t deny that once I finished wondering the “what next” question, I was stricken by what happened in the syndicate of journalists and followed directly what happened to our martyr policemen who died in Helwan in a way that reveals dangerous defaults in the system that we shall not give a blind eye to, starting with the urgent necessity of having a high-performance training for policemen to act in such cases, and the contingency measures that should be taken to maintain their safety and secrecy, and to close all gaps that may enable criminal terrorists to do their nasty job. I also wondered if those criminals received any coverage from the society and if highly-dense and populated residential communities provide a suitable environment for such terrorists… in addition to other questions?

I was invited to a TV talk show presented by Mr. Ibrahim Hegazi. The episode was talking about what happened in the syndicate and to journalism in general including that some people are involved in intentional attempts to viciously attack the Egyptian army role and to make publicity to all that ignore and underestimate the big achievements made by the state led by president Sisi in many fields. Such vicious attempts has two targets; the first is to spread despair among people and create a gap between them and the president whom they elected, trusted and loved in an unprecedented incident in the last four decades. The second is to spread the idea that people are ungrateful, ungracious and worth no sacrifice to be done by regime leaders starting from the president and downward!

In the interview that was aired last Thursday, I tried to connect phenomena to one another. I pointed to the issue of “sacred state of places” and how such thing is an old trick, as old as humans ever had sacred places. I gave an example of what happened between Jewish priests of the synagogue and glorified Jesus when he entered the temple and turned the tables of loan sharks saying: “My house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves”! I also recalled what was written in Quran regarding Kaaba and how humans and society is more important that stone… in al-Baqara Chapter, verse 217 says: “They ask you about the sacred month - about fighting therein. Say, "Fighting therein is great [sin], but averting [people] from the way of Allah and disbelief in Him and [preventing access to] al-Masjid al-Haram and the expulsion of its people therefrom are greater [evil] in the sight of Allah. And fitnah is greater than killing."… Yes, indeed… Fitnah is greater than killing… those who resorted to the syndicate to take it as a refuge while they are convicted of charges not related to Journalism, writing or anything that has to do with the syndicate made a horrible Fitnah in doing so. If they were aware of the consequences, they wouldn’t have let it happen.

I wish the damage inflicted was limited to dispute among members of the syndicate. However, it extended to a bigger dispute in relations tying state institutions where the syndicate is supposed to act like one among others in an integrated constitutional order. No one would have stood yelling and shouting to nail the prime minister or any other institutions supposed, as per the constitution, to hold ministers accountable and set rules for evaluation and accountability process. What happened is that some people acted like an involved party and judge in the same time exceeding all constitutional criteria and playing roles not determined for them, which is not acceptable!

I have already written an article in another newspaper few months ago about unhealthy phenomena dominating some groups of journalists, for examples phenomenon of spelling, dictation, grammatical, political, religious and ethical illiteracy. I asked the syndicate board to do its best and make use of all available resources to erase all those kinds of illiteracy citing Prophet Jesus saying: “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceives not the beam that is in thine own eye?”! It was due to both luck and chance that I have worked with tens of colleague journalists throughout 30 year. I used to discuss ideas and topics of some kinds of journalistic writings and also follow their work in news, journalistic investigations, interviews and others. Of course, I had to review their wordings and rewrite them... and what the hell of mistakes I have found in their writings!

The fight for the freedom of the press and other fights regarding putting restrictions on the press is not more sacred or have top priority than other fights against financial and administrative corruption in journalistic institutions, outdated tools of journalism profession, tens of other defects we suffer from in journalism like mixing news with advertising, fabricating resources, stealing journalistic material from the archives or from other published material, in addition to the dilemma of complex illiteracy I pointed to earlier in the article. I believe it’s like the biggest Jihad Prophet Muhammed – Peace be upon him – talked about after he considered battling and war a minor Jihad. He saw that building the state and protecting and developing the society was the major Jihad.

Our country is recovering from many diseases and cancers that have inflicted it for decades. Those diseases have or almost succeeded in destroying its immune system. There are people who try to get our country through this current critical phase in our history by reinforcing our national immune system through tens of achievements in several fields. It’s not likely or even wanted that those who are supposed to enlighten the public opinion are consecrating their efforts for destruction and working in line with our enemies. Let us all unite on one word… to fight our battles of freedom and independence of our profession and get involved in our biggest Jihad.

Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar

This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on May 12, 2016.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2016/05/blog-post.html

#alahram #ahmed_elgammal #syndicate_of_journalism #journalists #Egypt #

Words angering journalists

It was a coincidence that I started working in journalism at the end of 1979 after jailing and banning from work put an end to my career as a researcher that was said to be promising in the field of contemporary and modern history of Egypt. It was also a coincidence that I have been running the office of one of the biggest newspapers in Arab Gulf countries in Cairo for 30 years. And again, it was a coincidence that I had the ability to decipher the poor handwriting of many big-name writers and revise the articles of tens of journalists whom some of them became TV stars. I used to edit some of those articles and almost go mad of the spelling and grammar mistakes some journalists make, while some others have no journalistic integrity at all. And so, I have been calling upon the journalists’ syndicate to stand to such cultural, political and even ethical illiteracy spread in journalism, to the extent that some of those inefficient so-called journalists who made it to the editor-in-chief position and became popular media anchors are even boasting about this and consider themselves genius despite their complete journalistic illiteracy.

Again, it happened many times that I had many colleagues interested in the union work and who became “professional” in that. I also met many of those hosted by those “professionals” during their preparations for the elections of the syndicate board of trustees or the syndicate head. In such regard, there are many details that I may write about and publish later… according to my point of view of course. I remember when I once disagreed to the unanimity of some Nasserist journalists to elect a certain person for the syndicate head chair, and so, I wrote advocating his opponent and the punishment I had for this was preventing me from writing my column in the Nasserist Al-Arabi newspaper, not to mention the defamation campaigns that attacked me.

My dear colleagues of the syndicate leaders fighting for the journalistic and public freedoms know well all what I know about some other syndicate leaders who are actually diagnosed with that disease of journalistic illiteracy. They also know about others who made illegal use of Hajj and Umra trips, consumer durables, lands, real estates, advertisements, Shiekh al-Fasi and who have normalized relations with the Zionists and enlisted some of their secretaries and cronies as members in the syndicate. Despite all these flagrant breaches of the professional and ethical norms of journalism, the syndicate has not adopted a decisive stance towards any of those. I am even ready to give more details. This is while journalists are going through what we can call a true battle in favor of the journalistic freedoms and enacting both texts and soul of the Egyptian constitution concerning journalism. I do what I do because I believe the best way to guarantee the journalistic freedoms and journalists’ rights is that journalists – through their syndicate and top leaders – should take on the responsibility of assuming their main duties, atop of them is re-training hundreds of journalism-illiterate journalists.

We have to regulate the professional performance of our career so that journalism does not become the back door for stabbing our country in its safety, destiny, cohesion, strength, balance and role played in its geographical circumference and the world. We do not want the journalist to be that doctor ironically said to have publicly declared that he sacrificed the mother and baby lives for the operation to succeed!

I do wonder: when will the journalists’ syndicate start to question some of its members, considering themselves stars in media and political work, about suspicions arising to actual facts regarding their fortunes, projects, connections to media and politics funding sources both inside the country and abroad? There are even facts that they combine between journalism and working for other authorities.

We all stand against any abuse committed by the executive authority over the constitution, even if approved by the law. We are also against any abuse of any kind or degree practiced by any entity that draws us back to the time that led to the dismantling, destruction and terrorism we suffer from right now, not to mention that such abuse is committed against journalism and freedom of expression. For all this, we all have to stand against all what I mentioned above concerning our journalism community affairs.

I know some dear friends who will get angry when they read these lines and I can almost hear them blaming and saying: “this is always you… you always choose the bad timing to express your opinion… all what you say is right but the timing is definitely not right… you should not mention the bad things while we are going through a decisive battle like this”. However, I believe it is the best timing to discuss such things. The battle timing is the most suitable time to correct mistakes, rectify faults and to get rid of intruders. It is not the journalists’ battle alone; it is battle of the whole nation. Our nation is fighting a battle fiercer and more ferocious than all its fights throughout history since the Hyksos, Persian, Greek and Roman invasions and reaching to the British and Israeli occupations.

While the army, police and people are fighting this battle, we cannot let some of us stab the country in the back by writing and publishing misleading information that may attack those fighters and make the public lose trust in the nation’s leaders; those who defend the nation’s independence, civilization, culture and future. And so, the necessity to defend the journalistic rights is directly connected to the necessity to defend the nation.

I have to say what I say as our country is going through great dangers. We cannot stay silent and pretend everything is going fine. As to the timing thing, I totally disagree to this opinion. If we had political stability, economic welfare and high-level security not breached by terrorism or enemies extending from Ankara to Tel Aviv to Doha, I would have stayed silent about the faults of our journalistic community. However, we live in totally different circumstances that necessitate adopting the hard way to correct the whole national course that should include all communities no matter how prestigious or sacred these communities are.

I believe the biggest fight journalists and their syndicate should go through is doing their best to rectify and reform the journalistic community. As to those angry of the timing thing, I ask them: when is that right timing that we never had through more than half a century in the syndicate lifetime? Why has no one dared to start reforming and correcting the course in other times when the syndicate was not going through sacred battles?

This article was published in Almasry alyoum newspaper in July 14, 2015.

To see the original article, go to:

http://ahmadelgammal.blogspot.com.eg/2015/07/blog-post_14.html

#almasry_alyoum #ahmed_elgammal #journalists #Egypt