Chairperson of Supreme Council for Media Regulation Makram Mohamed Ahmed revealed that the Council approved a draft resolution to apply a fine of 200 thousand pounds on each satellite and 100 thousand pounds on the radio, for every offensive word published through one of these means. He added that the council would take a decision to withdraw the license from the media channel if it repeated the violation.
He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, that the Council also adopted a resolution approving a draft resolution to apply a code of ethics for Egyptian media in the case of addressing controversial Arab issues. He stressed that protecting the honour of the press is a right that cannot be separated from defending the liberties that have been granted by the constitution for the individual and the public.
He also called for defending the right of comradeship and its dignity among journalists is inseparable from the honour of the press. He added that the workers in this field should be prohibited from harming each other personally, depriving each other of their rights, not allowing each other to perform their professional duties or forcing them to say or do anything that might affect their journalistic and social character, including the right to keep their sources undisclosed.
He expressed his support for the decision to ban a number of news websites. He described the decision to block the news websites as “correct”. He further added that all sites belonging to terrorist groups should be closed. He announced the formation of a national observatory as part of Supreme Council for Media Organizations to monitor the sites that incite terrorism. Earlier in April, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi issued a decree to establish three new bodies to regulate the work of the media in Egypt.
He added that the Council monitored scores of excesses in the Ramadan work, which varied between serials, programs and advertisements. The program included Ramiz Under Ground and Hani Shook the Mountain contained a number of violations and abuses that were detected in the programs, while the monitoring of many irregularities in the drama shows between the reasons and insults and historical inaccuracies.
He added that the council decided to abandon its complaint against Egyptian author Ibrahim Eissa, saying that Eissa contacted with Press Syndicate clarifying that his articles came to improve the image of the country and to keep its unity. He stressed that the council refused Eissa’s message, while majority of them stressed that it is considered a good initiative from him.
He stressed that the message is not enough apology from Eissa, while the council authorized him to take the right decision, saying that if the writer’s violations would be repeated, they would take tough actions against him. He stressed that it is the duty of the council to protect the Egyptian writer as a journalist, while we viewed what he wrote as violation to the national unity.