VOA标准英语2013--Egypt's Pro-Military Media Decried, Defended

Egypt's Pro-Military Media Decried 1, Defended 

CAIRO — Egypt's media have moved, almost as one, to back the military-led government.  While press freedom groups have condemned 2 the stifling 3 of a free media, some defend the one-sided coverage 4 as key to Egypt's "war on terror." 

Egyptian state television offers constant reminders 5 that the nation is at war, running the banner “Egypt Fights Terror” in an endless cycle. And there are few battlegrounds as contested as the media itself.

Since the July ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, stations sympathetic to him have been shut down. Reporters have been arrested and others driven underground.

Press freedom groups decry 6 what Reporters Without Borders calls a “clear hostility 7 towards media that fail to sing the army’s praises.” But some long-time champions of free speech see the need.

Political Sociologist 8 Said Sadek of the American University in Cairo says, “There are moments in history when human rights and freedom of expression and media, they have to take a pause unfortunately. This is a political reality, not political illusions.”

Sadek is among many who say national salvation 9 is now at stake. But military attempts to curry 10 favor in the media were evident even before the coup 11. A leaked video shows military chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sissi earlier this year discussing ways to influence key media figures, with Sissi asking how the military can “intimidate” them.

While critics point to military strong-arming, there appears to be genuine support for a monolithic 12 voice. Sadek says the dissenting 13 reports of the foreign media - seen as supporting the Muslim Brotherhood 14 and their protests - are a problem.

“Some of the journalists who came to Cairo, you know, are so romanticizing: 'Oh this is pro-people,'" he said.

Their reports ignored the calls to violence and other hate speech of some Islamist media, he says.

Whatever the justification 15 for the pro-military tilt 16 and the suppression of free press, the pitfalls 17 are clear. Professor Christian 18 Donath of the American University in Cairo says the demonizing of the Muslim Brotherhood may have short term advantages, but does not bode 19 well for the future.

“The problem with the kind of language they use makes it more difficult to conduct negotiations 20 in the future with the Brotherhood and its supporters," said Donath. "And it is difficult to see how Egypt is going to return to the kind of stability that the government is calling for, the average people in the street want, without some sort of reconciliation 21.”

But with journalists avoiding arrest by showing only the military's side of the story, a more balanced view seems a long way away.