Context

Historically, the Egyptian State has always heavily controlled the media sector to ensure society would adhere to the successive political regimes. After having engineered a second term as president, the new strongman, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ratified a new set of laws in early 2018 making it even easier for the political power to control the development of the media sector. While technology could be seen as a new heaven for critics, it has already been a target of the regime and more than 500 websites have been blocked since 2017. Seven years after the January 2011 revolution, the level of media freedom is abysmal and Egypt is now one of the world’s biggest prisons for journalists.

History

Despite its complex historical, institutional, and political changes, Egypt keeps a heavy legacy of state control over the public. The media landscape is no exception to this rule.

Society

While TV is the most popular media platform in urban areas, radio still ranks first in the rural areas, mainly because of the lack of infrastructure to develop a broad TV coverage.

Politics

Egypt is no exception to the love-and-hate relationship between media and politics.  Until today, political powers have been successful in imposing full control of the media and in interfering with the content and message addressed to the public.

Economy

Since the 2011 uprising, the country's economy has declined, with lower growth rates and increasing levels of unemployment, amplifying the economic grievances of the Egyptian public that led to their version of an ‘Arab Spring’ in the first place.

Law

Since President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi took office in 2014, Egypt’s media has been confronted by an increasingly tighter legal environment. In 2018, Al-Sisi ratified a set of controversial new laws to redefine the roles of the regulatory bodies.

Technology

Despite the development of the technology sector, the growth of the market and its openness to private companies, the Egyptian State has kept control over the telecommunications and broadcast infrastructure for the past twenty years