2014 Perspectives: Makram Mohamed Ahmed on Journalism

Former head of the Journalism Syndicate Makram Mohamed Ahmed discusses journalism in 2014 and what to expect in the future

Ahmed Mansour

Makram Mohamed Ahmed is the former head of the Journalism Syndicate and a writer for Al-Ahram Newspaper. How did journalism change in 2014? The change in journalism cannot be summed in the year 2014, as journalism has been changing ever since the January 25 Revolution. That change is very obvious because now journalism is bolder, stronger, firmer and straighter to the point. The reason why it became this way is because now the youth are the ones that are handling the press, and they are honest and have less fear to write the truth. Have any changes occurred in the way newspapers are managed? There are two major issues that make journalism the way it is right now, and the two major issues are the result of the management of the newspapers. The first is the lack of professionalism. The editors and the managers of a newspaper should have a saying regarding the content that is being written and whether or not it meets the standards of the newspaper or not. They also need to be able to punish those who publish false news or those who state their personal opinion in an article.  The second is, usually the managers of newspapers believe that their job comes with a present, which is a column in a page of their choosing to say what they want to say about anything, without any kind of supervision. I think this trend should stop. People read newspapers for facts and news, they do not read it to know what the owner thinks about matters in Egypt. Are there any improvements that were made in 2014 to provide fresh graduates jobs in state-run newspapers? The thing is, state-run newspapers are crowded with under qualified journalists. They take fresh graduates to train them and the training period goes for as long as six years, without any guarantee of hiring, and that is unacceptable. In the beginning of 2014, I filed a request to the owner of Al-Ahram newspaper requesting to limit the training process of a fresh graduate journalist to two years maximum, with the promise of hiring. If the applicant didn’t prove worthy in the first six months of his training period, the administration would dismiss him immediately. If the applicant passed the first six months, then for sure he will be hired. My request has been approved and is being implemented. What do you advise those who just decided to peruse a career in journalism? General information is very important when it comes to journalism. They should know a lot about everything, both in politics and society. They should be well informed and updated with all the recent events that are taking place in the country, Middle East and worldwide. I also advise them to stay in good relations with their contacts and their sources. They need to stay on them 24/7 until they get what they want to get, and always leave a good impression. While having a conversation with your source, never disagree with him but correct him if he’s wrong about facts. State the news exactly as it is and keep your personal opinion out of it. If you are writing an article about the worst person alive, make sure that your words show respect to that person no matter what, people do not want to know your opinion about that certain person. Journalism is a very tough job, especially here in Egypt, but Egyptians do have the material of a great journalist.