Egypt State Information Service

Egyptian information is based on a strong basis which seeks to achieve media supremacy, and activate participation in decision – making as well as keeping the Egyptian identity. In 1952, the Ministry of National Guidance was established as the first Ministry of Information in Egypt's history. In 1954, the first state Information Service in the region was established, then in 1956 the Middle East News Agency was established. In 1970, the Ministry of the National Guidance comprised both culture and media sectors, under the changes that occurred at that time. An independent Ministry of Information was set up by virtue of the Republican Decree No 43 of 1982, and in 1986 it became an integrated ministry.

Egypt possesses a strong media infrastructure well qualified to address contemporary issues. In a democratic and free environment, it has communicated with and opened to the world. Egypt has launched the two satellites (Nilesat 101, and 102). Media Production City named "the Hollywood of the East”, represents an industrial base that enriches the drama production in Egypt as well as the Arab world, keeps Egypt's pioneering role and cultural identity and also comprises the biggest International Academy for Media Sciences.

Egypt was the first Arab country to introduce press where the first official Egyptian gazette "al-Waqa'e al-Misreya" was issued in 1828. The first public newspaper (Wadi an-Neel) was issued in 1867. Different newspapers emerged, reflecting the country's prevailing political, social, economic and cultural status through each period of the Egyptian history. In 1799, the first legislation for publications was issued, and then Law No. 156 of 1960 was issued for press regulation. Afterwards, Law No. 148 of 1980 was issued stipulating that the Egyptian press is an independent authority that exercises its mission in full freedom in the service of the society. In 1996, Law No. 96 was issued to regulate organizational system of the press.

Evolving from exclusively public ownership, there emerged new forms of press: partisan and independent. On March 26, 1998, the Journalist Code of Ethics was approved by the Supreme Council of Press. In 2006, some articles of the penalty law were amended to secure the freedom and independence of the press. Under this climate, the newspapers, number increased and their trends varied. In 2007, the number of newspapers hit 530.

It was established on August 13, 1970. An annual festival for radio and television production has been held since 1994, and in 2007 it became Cairo Festival for Arab Media, to raise the Arab production of radio and television as well as achieving integrity among the Arab media institutions and activating the radio and television production market. In 2002 the information bank for the Union was set up to cope with the developments in the field of information.

It started on December 12, 2007 with the participation of 12 Arab states. Many seminars were held and the festival honored many art and media figurers in both Egypt and the Arab world.

Since its official inauguration on May 31, 1934, the Egyptian broadcasting service has witnessed a tangible leap. It comprises 9 main networks, namely, The Main Network, Regional Networks, Youth and Sports network, the Holy Quran Networks, the Middle East Network, Cultural Network, Arab's Sound Network, the Overseas and Thematic Radio channels.

Total transmission hours of all broadcasting services in 2006/07 hit 187,492 hours with 528 hours/day. The number of radio transmission stations has ramounted to 303. Egyptian radio networks transmission is played to Europe, USA and Asia through the "Nilesat" and Eutelsat", in addition to the overseas services addressed in 38 languages to all parts of the world. New overseas services in Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese were initiated.

Eight new FM thematic radio channels addressed to Cairo, Alexandria and Hurghada were established, in addition to a new FM service that was introduced in Al-Arish to transmit the Hebrew program "Kol Kahir" which addresses the Israeli population to brief them on the Palestinian issue. Besides, two commercial services were jointly set up by the Radio & Television Union and C.N.E.

Egyptian radio participated in an international competition in the French Radio & Television about "the illegitimate emigration" and was awarded the 1^st prize for 2005/06.

In 2007, an agreement was signed between the Egyptian Radio and the British (B.B.C) to transmit "Trilogy of Naguib Mahfouz" which was produced by the BBC in English and was transmitted on the European program. It was proposed for a prize in the competition of the radio British "Soni" station.

The Egyptian television, launched on July 21, 1960, witnessed a great leap. The total transmission hours in 2006/07 hit 625,67 hours with 170 hours/day distributed as follows: 23745 hours for the central channels 19130 for the satellite channels, and 39693 hours for the thematic channels.

It started on May 31, 1994. It is the first Egyptian international channel, transmitting programmes in English and French. Hebrew was added in 2002. It transmits 20 hour/day, for local and foreign viewers in Egypt. Its overseas transmission covers all Arab countries, Middle East, half of North Africa, U.S.A and all European countries.

The experimental transmission for a new channel for Egypt's news started on the net. A channel for people with special needs is prepared to be the first channel in this field in Egypt and the Arab world. Agreements were signed between the Egyptian Television and both the Chinese and South Korean Televisions for exchanging programes and films.

The first satellite (Nilesat 101) was launched in 1998, then (Nilesat 102) in 2000. They both ???? ????? ??????? ?????? ????? ? ?????? ????? ????? ???? ??????? ???????? ?? ???

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represent Egypt's beginning of the satellites era. Both satellites provide valuable national services for Egypt. They provide information communication to all areas from North Sinai to Toshka, Owainat and Al Wadi Al Gadeed (The New Valley). They also serve as a back-up media service to terrestrial networks. The Nilesats (101 and 102) play a remarkable role expressing the Egyptian society, highlighting the Egyptian civilization concomitant with preserving the country's identity and idiosyncrasy and creating interaction with other cultures.

Both satellites have on board 24 satellites channels transmitting 180 satellite T.V channels and 800 Egyptian, Arab, and international broadcasting stations. 180 distinguished Egyptian, Arab, and international T.V channels were hired and viewed by millions.

In 2007, more than 380 free and coded channels and 95 radio stations were on the Nilesat network, besides the internet which is used by millions. The new generation of the Nilesat 201 is going to be launched with new techniques at a cost of about $ 150 million. It comprises more than 28 digital channels and includes more than 600 T.V channels to be launched during 2009-2011.

It is situated in the 6^th October City on an area of 2 million m² in addition to 1 million m² to be expanded in the future within the free zone and to meet investors needs.

In June 2002, President Mubarak declared the completion of "MPC the Hollywood of the Orient" as the biggest drama production facility in the Middle East.

- 31 video and cinema studios inside the MPC, in the cinema city and in Al Ahram studio. It has all services, outside and inside shooting equipment and art centres equipped with international techniques.

- "Magic Land" which is the biggest entertainment city in the Middle East. It was established on 160 thousand m² and comprises many fun places and games for all ages. It is connected with the Nilesat to provide all the abilities to transmit all media events or inside the studios of the city through the two Nilesats all over the world.

A decree was issued in 2000 to set up a free media zone for the art and media production activities. It is the main venue for international satellite companies. It makes Egypt an investment hub for media production and transmission.

President Mubarak inaugurated the IAMS in June 2002. It aims at graduating generations of high-calibre media men, well trained to absorb the state-of-the-art technology.

In September 2002, study started in the Academy, and it received 268 students from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates, Palestine, India and Yugoslavia.

The Academy grants the students BA and MA degrees in any of the mentioned specializations. In addition, it offers vocational specialized diplomas in all media fields, news programming, children programming, editing, directing, and presenting television and radio programming, video montage, acting and directing television drama.

In an age where value of information is maximized and within the world's current developments, SIS managed to fulfill its serious information mission, by working with all the prevalent issues; whether local or international, using the state-of-the-art technologies.

SIS was established in 1954, and it is considered a state official agency for media that aims at improving the citizen's awareness and activating his participation in building the society, as well as strengthening the friendship and relations between Egypt and the outside world. SIS is considered the state's public relations agency, a political and media studies centre, a data bank and a major publishing cultural house.

This sector serves as an information and research centre, a publishing house as well as a centre for political and strategic studies. This information can be recalled through the internet and intranet networks and is dispersed to the public in the form of programmes and a series of publications and research papers, besides the encyclopedias and electronic publication CDS. The sector also issues the Egyptian media report which was first launched in 2004. The report tackles Egypt's portrayed image around the world.

The launch of the SIS website in 1996 was indeed an unprecedented initiative that is considered a huge success. The distinguished site provides a comprehensive panorama of Egypt's history, civilization and culture, in addition to its latest achievements. Also, the site presents comprehensive biographies of Egypt's top figures including politicians, intellectuals and scientists, all fully documented in facts and figures.

In 2000, this site was chosen by the UNESCO as one of the best cultural sites worldwide. As a proof of the SIS website credibility, USA, Germany and Japan asked that many of their sites would be linked directly to SIS website to benefit from its various information resources.

The SIS website was launched on the Nilesat to fully benefit from its turbo speed internet service to enhance the efficiency of the services the website offers to the public, as well as adding new languages; French, besides Arabic and English languages. The site contains 98 sections, 180,000 pages, 706000 images, 2816 hours of audio material and 3000 hours of video material. It receives about 20-22 million visitors per month. The site relays transmission of Public Programme Network and Songs Programme, in addition to the Nile TV, International and Nile News Channel around the clock.

It plays a vital role in dispersing development-related information to the public. It is the most effective tool that provides direct mass communication to all Egypt's governorates. This sector works on the current issues among which are: Strengthening the participation and citizenship culture and human rights, enhancing woman's role and accepting others, encouraging free work, raising environmental awareness, boosting information and entrenching the society of knowledge and information.

It operates through 65 local information complexes and centres that are spread all over the country, including 27 modern complexes, 30 Nile information centres (Education and Communication Centres), 44 children clubs, 50 listening and viewing clubs, 26 family-planning centres, 65 public opinion units, 30 technology clubs, and 42 clubs for friends of the environment. In 2007, the Sector has achieved tangible progress embodied in the increasing number of symposiums, lectures, courses and seminars, totaling about 11497. The total number of beneficiaries amounted to 451768. The total number of public opinion reports drawn up by the information complexes and centres reached 6186.

These clubs were established within the framework of the National Project for the Technological Revival; to help spread awareness about up-to-date information and communication technology among Egypt's youth. These clubs provide the youth with the essential skills of dealing with computers according to the requirements of the labor market and keep them up-to-date with future developments. About 30 technology development clubs were established in information complexes and centres nationwide. In 2006/07, those clubs held 860 training courses for 6525 trainees, most of which were young men and university graduates.

The SIS Foreign Information Sector represents the foreign component of Egypt's media function. The Sector supervises 32 overseas information offices that monitor media feedback broadcast or published in significant domestic and foreign media stations and press. There are 9 offices in Europe, 4 in North America, 3 in Africa, 11 in the Arab world and one in Israel. All the foreign press offices are linked to the internet.

The press center for foreign correspondents and reporters offers several services to facilitate their jobs. Some permanent and temporary press centres are established during conference and occasions inside or outside Egypt.

Cairo ranks 4^th worldwide in view of the number of resident correspondents that reached 949, representing 230 foreign institutions and 140 Arab ones, including TV, news agencies, foreign and Arab journals and magazines. In 2007, the press centre provided facilities for 112 resident correspondents and 885 visiting ones.

MENA, established in 1956, was the first regional news agency in the Middle East. It is now one of the most powerful news agencies. It ranks the 11^th among international news agencies according to the UNESCO's report.

Operating 24 hours a day, MENA transmits about 250,000 word/day in Arabic, English and French to most parts of the world. In addition, MENA has at present a wide network of correspondents around the world; totaling about 40 offices and correspondents in the world's most prominent capitals. Besides, the Agency covers all of Egypt's governorates through a domestic network of offices and correspondents. MENA exchanges news and photographs with 25 Arab and foreign news agencies.

MENA issues several bulletins in English. The most popular bulletins are perhaps the daily Cairo Press Review (C.P.R), the biweekly Party Press Review (P.P.R) and the weekly economic magazine (M.E.N). MENA issues 10 specialized bulletins in Arabic.

In 1996, it started transmitting its news services via 3 satellites namely, the Asian Intelsat, covering Asia and Africa, the Atlantic Intelsat covering Europe, Mediterranean countries and North Africa and Europe; as well as transmitting through Eutelsat, which transmits all over the world. In June 1997, the Agency accessed the internet and launched its website in Arabic, English, and French.