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Media Professors Against the Coup Front

Media Professors Against the Coup Front

Media Professors Against the Coup Front, which includes a number of the finest and most renowned media professors in all Egyptian universities, calls on all Egyptians to boycott hostile, biased media.

Cairo: August 6, 2013

Based on a scientific analysis of Egyptian media performance after the traitorous military coup against constitutional legitimacy, and out of a belief in the right of the Egyptian people to knowledge and their right to access information and accurate news which would enable them to take an honest and appropriate political stance about the situation arising from the coup, the Media Professors Against the Coup Front (MPACT) urges the Egyptian people to boycott state-controlled and hostile private print and broadcast media for the following reasons:

1. Egyptian media bow stupidly to military putschists’ calls for a mandate to fight violence and terrorism – a strategic mistake unprecedented in the history of the Egyptian state.

This mandate places Egypt on the list of terrorist states, and provides foreign countries with an excuse for military intervention in Egypt, according to the Convention on the fight against terrorism after September 11, 2001. It also has a devastating impact on tourism and investment, and hinders economic growth.

2. Egyptian media practice the ugliest forms of psychological warfare against the Egyptian people by adopting methods of deception, obfuscation, instigation and deliberate distortion of the protesting anti-coup people's revolution in Rabaa Al-Adaweya and all public squares in Egypt.

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3. Egyptian media use systematic methods to infuse the spirit of hatred against the people rising in revolution for dignity, for freedom and for the gains of the January 25 (2011) Revolution.

4. Egyptian media incite mass murder by focusing on calls to break up peaceful sit-ins by force, based on a single perspective of events and on false information from official sources that reflect the point of view of the putschists alone.

5. The putschists’ media lack the simplest rules of professionalism which require commitment to accuracy, honesty, fairness, objectivity, balance and pluralism of opinions.

6. Egyptian media promote utter lies and baseless rumors that does not in any way reflect the reality of the peaceful sit-ins in Rabaa Al-Adaweya, Nahda or any other liberty squares throughout Egypt. Hostile media also makes all kinds of vilifying false allegations against demonstrators demanding reinstatement of legitimacy. This is contrary to the ethics of professional media work that require accuracy to ensure societal stability.

7. Egyptian media strives to blur and twist the truth, thus replicating the role of media during the January 25 Revolution, ignoring the public's right to honest, faithful and balanced reporting and accurate information, and oblivious to the ability of the public to know the truth through the internet, social networks and some honest truthful media.

8. Egyptian media strive with dogged determination and crude methods to marginalize and repel all political forces’ attempts and initiatives aimed to stop the bloodshed and return all parties to the negotiating table and a national dialogue instead of relying on brute force, bullets and gas bombs, which makes them the most traitorous, unpatriotic media.

9. Egyptian media ignores the right of professional media fellowship, and does not see the confiscation of media freedoms, closure of newspapers or gagging and imprisonment of journalists, media professionals and photographers an unforgivable crime against humanity.

Indeed, the discourse of journalists and political talk shows reflects a sort of vengeance, a spirit of revenge, and a desire for this gross injustice by the military putschists to continue.

10. Egyptian media undermine the gains of the January 25 Revolution and support the return of the police state and the use by State Security apparatus of heavy-handed tactics in dealing with the Egyptian people, thus standing against the revolution of the people who paid with much of their precious blood.

MPACT, therefore, holds that Egyptian print and broadcast, state-owned and private are no longer patriotic national institutions, since they work against the interests of the country through the crimes of distorting the facts, misrepresenting reality, defending the heinous coup, and standing obstinately in the face the people as they endeavor to restore the values of democracy, human dignity and decent living, the same demands of the January 25 Revolution.

MPACT, therefore, calls on the masses of the Egyptian people to boycott Egyptian media until media professionals wake up and return to their senses and duty, and commit to the values, ethics and conscience of truly professional media.

In conclusion, we affirm that we are monitoring, analyzing and documenting all the crimes committed by the putschists’ media, with sounds, pictures, videos and texts, referenced to relevant media sources, personalities and journalists. These documented crimes will be presented, together with names and facts, to relevant courts of justice to take legal action against the perpetrators, in time.

Media Professors Against the Coup Front

Cairo: August 6, 2013

ENDS

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