A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The End of The Egypt Independent

The Egypt Independent, the  English-language paper from the Al-Masry al-Youm group, has shut down its print and online editions. As the editors note:
Four years after the birth of Egypt Independent, the management of Al-Masry Media Corporation has informed our editorial team that our print and online news operation is being shut down.
Because we owe it to our readers, we decided to put together a closing edition, which would have been available on 25 April, to explain the conditions under which a strong voice of independent and progressive journalism in Egypt is being terminated.
The management, however, withheld the printing of this edition. While the print house received the final proofs on 23 April, management ordered a last-minute stoppage after scrutinizing the issue’s content. 
In keeping with our practice of critical journalism, we use our final issue to reflect on the political and economic challenges facing Egyptian media, including in our own institution.
Today, we share this final issue with our readers in digital form.
The digital version if the last edition, at Scribed, is here.

The struggle of English-language papers in Egypt is pretty well-documented, and discussed in the final edition. Also, at least three journalists who lost their jobs a year ago when Daily News Egypt shut down, have now lost their second paper in a year: they discuss their experience here,

Since apparently the online edition is closing too, this loss will be felt. You will be missed. [Update: the management now says they will retain the online edition, but with an "integrated newsroom" with Al-Masry al-Youm.]

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