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USAID Egypt

USAID Deputy Director’s Remarks to Attendees at the Signing of Middle East News Agency (MENA) MOU with Media Development Program

Middle East News Agency Headquarters, Cairo
Monday, November 20, 2006 
Joe Raffleberg, Chief of Party, Media Development Program MDP (left), Abd Allah Hassan, Chairman, Middle East News Agency MENA (middle).

Minister of International Cooperation Fayza Aboulnaga; Mr. Abd Allah Hassan, Chairman, Middle East News Agency; members of the board of administration, distinguished journalists, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the United States Agency for International Development, I want to express my warmest wishes to all of you on the occasion of the signing this Memorandum of Understanding between the Middle East News Agency and Management Sciences International, a program undertaken by USAID in partnership with the Ministry of International Cooperation. The document will outline the terms of cooperation between USAID and MENA. In May 2006, USAID signed a contract with Management Sciences International to implement the Media Development Program in Egypt. We are proud that MENA is signing the first Memorandum of Understanding to implement this program.

I would like to focus my remarks today on the vital role that a free press plays in a democracy.

For democracy to function, citizens must be able to exercise their rights to free assembly, free speech, and free press. A free press is vital to every part of the democratic process – from elections to citizen oversight of the performance of their representative governments.

“Rule by the people” depends on citizens making informed decisions and maintaining confidence in their political system.

The media serves all citizens – not just their readers and listeners. Their influence extends far beyond those who buy newspapers or hear broadcasts. Readers and listeners will pass along the information to others and photocopy articles to send to friends. Wire services will pick up breaking stories from local media, which means the stories will be read by radio stations and reach even those who are illiterate or in remote areas. Thus, in many ways, the entire world sees places and judges events through a journalistic lens.

 

Joe Raffleberg, Chief of Party, Media Development Program MDP (left), Abd Allah Hassan, Chairman, Middle East News Agency MENA (middle), Haynes Mahoney, PA Consoler (right).

For the public to believe what it reads, listens to and sees in the mass media, the media must present credible, professional and independent content. At the same time, without efficient and professional management in place, media will not have the economic strength to be viable in a market economy. Balancing professional reporting and sound management is a challenge for media all over the world.

And this effort is never ending. Media has to continuously prove its journalistic credibility with citizens and its effective management with public and private sector investors. This is especially important when citizens may believe that the newspapers, television and radio are only mouthpieces for the government. To be trusted sources of information, journalists must demonstrate every day that they are fair, accurate, and open to all points of view.

To date, much of the attention on the media sector in Egypt has focused exclusively on training. The strategic approach of the Media Development Program is to mix improving training capacity with a focus on increasing the economic viability of the sector; strengthening the local media; and supporting Government of Egypt initiatives in media legal, regulatory and policy reform.

In closing, let me reiterate that there can be no doubt that independent media needs to be both journalistically credible and economically viable to exercise its historic role in strengthening democracy and promoting a strong free market economy.

I am pleased to be here to represent USAID’s involvement to help Egypt’s media reach the goals of professional development and economic sustainability.

Thank you.


For more information, contact USAID/Egypt Public Outreach Office, tel.: (202) 522- 6547,
or visit our web-site: http://egypt.usaid.gov