| Live political talk shows are a staple of Egyptian TV, drawing viewers of all classes and backgrounds, as well as top advertisers and investors. |
| By Sherif Awad |
| Almost every channel from longtime standards such as Al-Hayat and Orbit to post-revolution newcomers such as Al-Nahar and Al-Tahrir has one or more talk shows with their spin on the issues of the day.In the high-pressure race for viewership, hosts often take their cues from political or corporate agendas of the program funders. A few talk show hosts, however, have become known for their credibility in addressing the issues. Among them is Dina Abdel-Rahman, who first won viewers’ respect and trust as a host on Dream TV before leaving under political pressure and moving to Al-Tahrir TV. Now her show is off the air again, this time over a contract dispute she says would leave her powerless to choose her guests or topics. For five years until last July, Abdel-Rahman anchored the daily morning show Sabah Dream on Dream TV, commenting on controversial stories in the local media. Abdel-Rahman’s Dream TV career ended, however, in July 2011, after she challenged an army general who called in to her program. The host was discussing journalist Naglaa Bedeir’s op-ed criticizing the Supreme Council of Armed Forces when Major General Abdel Moneim Kato, an adviser to the Armed Forces Morale Affairs Department, phoned in with a response. On air, Kato accused unnamed political figures of being foreign agents, and Abdel-Rahman asked him to provide evidence for the allegations. According to local media reports, Abdel-Rahman was fired after the episode aired. A few weeks later, Abdel-Rahman and her Dream TV editorial team signed with the newly launched Al-Tahrir TV to present Al-Youm with Dina Abdel-Rahman, a popular late night show. That lasted until February when her show was canceled because she refused to amend her contract with Al-Tahrir. The new contractual changes would have prohibited Abdel-Rahman from approaching topics or inviting guests without the consent of the channel management and even prevented her from going to court in case of any legal disputes. In an Egypt Today exclusive, Dina Abdel-Rahman shares her side of the story about the end of her successful talk shows. Edited excerpts: After your debate with Kato, how did Al-Tahrir TV approach you for a new show? After I left Dream TV, I received offers from several satellite channels and even national television. I was about to sign with ON TV to present a talk show prepared by my own editorial staff from Dream TV, when I discovered that the exclusive advertising rights on both the ON TV and Dream TV channels are held by the same company, Promomedia, managed by Amgad Moussa Sabry and owned by Naguib Sawiris. When Promomedia executives met Osama Ezz El-Deen, the CEO of Dream TV, and Dr. Ahmed Bahgat, the owner of Dream TV, to renew their contract, the Dream TV executives stipulated that Promomedia must pay LE 1 million to Dream TV to release me from my contract. The million pounds was stipulated in the penalty clause in my contract, even though I was fired from Dream TV — the channel later denied I was fired, announcing instead that I refrained from continuing my work. When I was informed by ON TV’s managing director Albert Shafiq that Sawiris agreed to pay that sum, I had no alternative but to refuse this deal because I did not want to owe any expensive favors to anybody. Strangely enough, businessman Salah Diab (CEO of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, in which Sawiris is also a major investor) asked me to sign up for a TV version of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper with segments similar to its different sections. His plans were to produce the show then to sell it to any channel that wanted it, even if it was Dream TV. At that moment, I felt like I was being pulled into a game with the big tycoons because each one was trying to position me according to his personal agenda. To put an end to the whole thing, I decided to pull out from both offers and to reconsider Al-Tahrir’s earlier proposal. Although its original founders had no background in TV, they had some positive initiatives that drove me to accept their offer. First, Al-Tahrir was far from the control of influential people. And second, these original founders had a vision of presenting unbiased professional TV content, which was in harmony with my own principles. Many channels that recently opened after the January 25 Revolution, like Al-Tahrir, were sold to or acquired by other owners only a few months after their initial launch. And when this happens, the policy and political direction of the channel are easily changed. What is your take? Everybody is aware of the major influence that a visual medium like TV has on the Egyptian people in these crucial times . Particularly for businessmen, a TV channel is a very good investment that can be recouped in few years and be used to promote non-TV projects — for example, Bahgat with Goldstar and Dreamland. That’s why so many are joining the club of channel owners. In my particular case, my contract with Al-Tahrir TV stated that I am the chief editor of my own show, meaning that I had the right to select my topics and guests. For three months, everything was going smoothly as the team and I had the independence to address daily topics with great credibility, compared to other channels. Then conflicts started to occur among Al-Tahrir TV shareholders, and businessman Soliman Amer appeared on the scene to buy out the majority of their shares. There was a rumor that Amer was behind some of the original funders, who stood as front men until the time was right for him to make an appearance. Once Amer came on board, the management started to interfere with my show. My first conflict with Amer actually came from a story I covered on Sabah Dream. In 2008, Al-Ahram newspaper reported that businessmen, including Amer, acquired state land on the Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road for agricultural projects but then allegedly misused it for projects such as resorts and villas. Amer repeatedly asked Dream TV to let him publicly defend himself on my show. To keep the integrity of our show, we said that Amer would be invited only if he agreed to confront a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture, but Amer refused to appear in this setting. There was another incident, after the January 25 revolution, where I mentioned on my Dream show a news report about the Attorney General freezing the assets of several businessmen, including Amer. I had these incidents in mind last January, when there were efforts to prevent me from addressing certain topics, including the censorship of my colleague Doaa Soltan’s Talk Show on Al-Tahrir itself. The final confrontation came when I was prevented from entering the studio until I agreed to comply with Al-Tahrir’s new policies. Al-Tahrir Channel tried to turn people against you by publishing your contract and the sum you receive. Despite all of this, I don’t think I have lost any of the people’s support. Still, publishing my contract or any contract is a criminal offense, committed by Amer’s assistants and consultants who are journalists by profession and who should have known better. Moreover, some websites and newspapers published a scan of the contract without even blurring my national ID number and my home address, which I consider an unethical incitement against me, given the economic problems faced by the majority of Egyptian people. That’s why I have exercised my rights to take legal action against Al-Tahrir and before them Dream TV. How do you see the state of the media now? Is it getting better or worse? I see that many TV shows are driving people to a state of despair and confusion about the future of Egypt. They want people to believe that the January 25 Revolution was fine, but it made a lot of mistakes, and that the real rebels of the revolution are already dead and right now only thugs remain. That’s why I think the real and final “war” against the remnants of the old regime is yet to begin because the old regime is trying to return to take over the country and to hijack the revolution because they refuse to be equally treated like everybody before the law. They want to keep what they have illegally won during the last 30 years, because a revolution means they must pay back what they took without rights. Have you received new offers since Al-Tahrir? Even before I left Al-Tahrir, I got one from BBC Arabic and another from Al-Jazeera. I am still considering both offers because I will have to relocate to London or Doha. Although I want to take my time, many events are driving me to make a comeback to the screen soon. |
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