Egypt attacks on media a sign of things to come?

By Joseph Mayton
Bikya Masr

"Journalists should be protected. They should not face violence or arrest for doing their job. In Egypt, this is the farthest from the truth, where yet again this past week we saw reporters beaten, attacked and ultimately arrested by the military junta in Egypt that time and time again is unwilling to promote the very revolution that they supposedly protect.

Over and over we have come to the same disturbing reality; Egypt’s military does not support press freedom, instead works against it in a way that would make the former Mubarak government proud and supporting. The military has done more to destroy the national media’s optimistic opening following the February 2011 removal of Mubarak than any other group. In many ways, the military, as it kills its own citizens, silences the truth and manufactures a reality that national government-run dailies regurgitate without a thought to its certainty......

With repeated violations of press freedom committed by the Egyptian military, the gross misuse of power, their disregard for basic human rights and the killing of its own citizens in what seems to be monthly, it is frustrating that many journalists in the country espouse a belief that there is truth to the military stance. These reporters, when the future new Egypt that recognizes its revolutionary goals, will have to face the public and their lies and culpability in this era of military violence, will be made manifest.

The truth will win. It always does."