|
|
 |
Journalism and the press
Although certain kinds of firearms invented and developed in Christian Europe were
readily accepted by Muslims to fight Holy Wars, printing was not, for with
it would have followed infidel ideas that might undermine Islam.
'Thus. it is reported:
when Jewish refugees from Spain asked Bayezid ll for permission to set up
printing presses
|
|
in Turkey, he consented on condition that they did not print any books in Turkish
or Arabic, and confined themselves to Hebrew and European languages.
By the end of the fifteenth century Jewish refugees from Spain had set up
printing presses in a Muslim land. These were followed by other religious
minorities-- Armenians and Greeks- who set up their own. Some two hundred and fifty
years later, in 1727, dispensation was received from the Shaykh al-Islam permitting
the Sultan to authorize the printing of books in Turkish, and thus the setting
up of the first Turkish press in Istanbul. The first book appeared in 1729.
No such difficulties of religious, or other, opposition were encountered in Egypt.
We noted earlier that the French conquerors not only brought with them a
printing press, but that they soon inaugurated an official periodical
press in order to keep the troops informed about events and the public au courant
with policy and legislation. They also published a scholarly journal as an outlet for
the findings of French scientists working in Egypt. Twenty years later Muhammad Ali
founded the Government Printing Press at Bulaq.
The tradition of journalism in Egypt is one of the most long- established in the
Arab world. The early start given to the Press by Napoleon and subsequently by
Muhammad Ali and Ismail afforded Egypt later a certain advantage in cultural, social and
intellectual development among Arabic-speaking countries. The Egyptian Press has
played since 1882 a leading role in publicizing movements, ranging from Pan-Islamism
to demands for local independence among Arab groups everywhere. Views on the revival,
reform and unity of the Islamic community were promoted earlier in this century through the
Press, so that Muslim, Arab and peculiarly Egyptian tendencies regarding nationalism
and other political movements are reflected in the evolution of the Press in Egypt.
It was mainly through the Press that the evolution of modern Arabic writing and
literature occurred in the last hundred years. Leading early writers were also
publicists who wrote mainly for newspapers and magazines. Their books, for a long time,
were collections of their newspaper and magazine articles.
The Press also played an important role in adapting classical Arabic to the requirements of
modern times, leading to the rise of neo-classical literary movements. It helped
transform a difficult `dead' language into a reasonably flexible means of
public communication. In short, the Press performed the functions of a popular
teacher in spreading a new national language and culture that were more attuned to the
needs of an evolving society. Especially since 1900, the Press in Egypt has
reflected the conflict between conservative and modernist tendencies in social thought
and life. It has served as a medium for the propagation of new ideas and movements for
social, economic and political reform, feminism, secular liberalism, religious conservatism,
trade unionism and so on. In practically no other Arab country has the Press been as
significant and crucial a part of modern developments as it has in Egypt from the
nineteenth century until 1952 at least.
Until 1882, the embryonic Egyptian Press was crude, experimental, didactic, Moreover, it was often official, that is, it was begun and largely financed by the ruler and the State. Only during the British occupation and until 1914, did the Egyptian Press come of age to concern itself with the public debate of social, economic and political issues. In the inter-war period (1919-39), the Press in Egypt became more strictly partisan when political parties published their own newspapers and magazines as essential media for the prosecution of their party political ends. After 1952, and with the demise of parliamentary institutions, including political parties, the Press, along with other more modern mass media, became an arm of the state propaganda machine. All the same, it was through the Press that generations of writers were trained in modern Egypt. Just as significant was the emergence of a new profession journalism - and thus a new source of livelihood for writers.
To the extent that literature can reflect social phenomena, the rise and development of the Egyptian Press constitutes an important mirror of the evolution of modern Egypt. It is through these media that one can identify the beginnings of a modern Arab literature in terms of style, and the influence of European ideas as interpreted - or misinterpreted - by leaders of Egyptian letters and opinion. A journalistic political prose opened immense possibilities for clearer and more precise expression on various social and political questions of the times through the famous maqal, or feature article and 'leader', in the newspapers.
Style moreover was affected by modern notions of time and space: the hunger for world news so prominent
among Egyptians in the 1877 Russo-Turkish war in which Egyptian troops were committed was
satisfied by the use of the telegraph for rapid newsgathering. Although the telegraph came to Egypt in
1854, its use by newspapers did not begin until the 1870s, especially by such papers as a!-Ahram.
Reporters' deadlines and the composition of news stories from telegraphic dispatches introduced a new
Arabic prose style that is so widely associated with newspapers today. The change in, and ferment of,
ideas was thus strengthened by the parallel change in, and development of, their expression in the Press,
and particularly as the latter was in turn affected by technological changes in communications and the
dissemination of information.
Extract from “The History of Modern Egypt From Muhammad Ali to Mubarak”, written by P.J.Vatikiotis. Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London 1991
|
|
|
Tue Feb 9 08:57:26 2010
|
|
|
