IN EGYPT…PHARAONIC RULE IS BACK
( so journalists…be advised…report or comment about Egypt at your peril)

The Egyptian revolution’s outcome during the so-called Arab Spring which swept across the region…from Morocco to Syria…ended up with the country in shambles and a newly elected dictatorship replacing everything else that has been before. For all practical purposes in Egypt…pharaonic rule is back. So journalists…be advised…report or comment about Egypt at your peril.

The recent sham trial and conviction of three journalists simply emphasizes that reality. Apparently the concept and principle of free speech and a free press have no place under the governance now in place over the Egyptian people. Instead, what it seems to be saying is…everything not forbidden is now strictly compulsory.

While I don’t claim to be a journalist, beyond my Op-Ed type commentaries for the past number of years, both my parents were journalists of some repute, so I understand how disgusting these events must be to the profession. My late father in particular in the earlier stages of his career experienced similar dangers experienced by those who’ve been reporting on recent events in Egypt. In his case his reporting earned the ire of both Hitler and Mussolini, placing him on their PNG lists of journalists, and, of Franco, who put him on a special black list which guaranteed summary execution should he ever dare to enter Spanish territory. Even his then Chicago Tribune boss, Col. McCormick, was so displeased with his reporting on those gentlemen that he sent him a cablegram saying “You’ve apparently lost your mind. Suggest you take a long rest cure in a sanitarium.” A missive my father had framed and treasured for the rest of his life.

Of course, it wasn’t the last time his journalistic efforts got him crosswise with high level government officials. During the Vietnam War, because of his reputation as an unbiased journalist, he was tasked to go and report on how we were doing there, to counter the anti-war movement here at home. However, his reports were not only less than favorable, they were scathing, so he was soon PNG back in Washington. As he said at the time…thank goodness…now I can go back to la Belle France and enjoy some decent wine and intelligent conversation for a change. It was at that time that he also showed me his copy of the quotes from Marcus Aurelius, and the one which always guided his work: “If it is good to say or do something; then, it is better to be criticized for having said or done it.” Something I took to heart and have followed as well.

Such are the perils of the journalistic life, especially when you are reporting or commenting about events in a country where dissent of any kind can be hazardous to your health.

So perhaps the only way to treat governments like Egypt’s is to simply boycott them entirely, and refuse to report or comment on anything about them. Perhaps without access to the wide public forum of a free press they might reverse their attitudes about journalists. Admittedly that’s probably a doubtful proposition, but putting Egypt on a news “blackout” might just be the right kind of pressure to apply in this instance.

Failing that, promoting a strong tourist boycott of the country is probably an even better way to put the squeeze on the new Pharaoh in Cairo, to remind him that if he wants his country to be included in polite society again…he should reconsider his views about journalists…no matter who they may be working for.

As for those he just had locked up we suggest that the simplest way out of that entanglement is for him to just declare them PNG , and throw them out of the country for good. Besides, doing so would cost a hell of lot less than having to care and feed them for the length of their sentences.

Even Pharaohs have to consider economizing now and then.

CENTURION