By Cam McGrath
"CAIRO, Aug 7, 2011 (IPS) - Six months since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the state media organs that once glorified the dictator's policies and glossed over his failures have new leaders. Yet the mindset of decades of authoritarian rule remains intact, say media experts.
"The state media is very set in its ways; all it knows how to do is to sing the praises of the guy on top," says Rasha Abdulla, a professor of journalism and mass communications at the American University in Cairo. "And now that Mubarak is gone they are looking for the next closest thing, and to them it's the (ruling) military council."....
Disturbingly, say rights groups, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) reinstated the information ministry last month. It also warned that any reporting concerning the military or its leadership must receive prior approval from its morale affairs and intelligence directorates. Journalists and bloggers who failed to heed the warning have been harassed and arrested.
"In many ways (government oversight) is worse now than under Mubarak," says Amin. "Before, they never checked our scripts. Now there is a lot of scrutiny. Everything has to go through army affairs."....."
"CAIRO, Aug 7, 2011 (IPS) - Six months since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the state media organs that once glorified the dictator's policies and glossed over his failures have new leaders. Yet the mindset of decades of authoritarian rule remains intact, say media experts.
"The state media is very set in its ways; all it knows how to do is to sing the praises of the guy on top," says Rasha Abdulla, a professor of journalism and mass communications at the American University in Cairo. "And now that Mubarak is gone they are looking for the next closest thing, and to them it's the (ruling) military council."....
Disturbingly, say rights groups, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) reinstated the information ministry last month. It also warned that any reporting concerning the military or its leadership must receive prior approval from its morale affairs and intelligence directorates. Journalists and bloggers who failed to heed the warning have been harassed and arrested.
"In many ways (government oversight) is worse now than under Mubarak," says Amin. "Before, they never checked our scripts. Now there is a lot of scrutiny. Everything has to go through army affairs."....."
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