At a launch party held at the Hilton Green Plaza in Alexandria, participants celebrated the launch of Alexandria Al-Youm, the first city-specific newspaper published by Al-Masry Al-Youm. Remarks by attendees varied between admiration and criticism. They stressed the pride they had in the mother newspaper and wished the new edition success.
The event, which saw participation by the elite of Alexandria and prominent personages from different fields, began with a short film combining excerpts of reports and interviews made by the newspaper and collected by its multimedia department. The film was followed by a welcoming address by the hotel’s general manager, Ahmed Salama.
Among the personalities who spoke at the event were the legal expert Yehya el-Gamal; head of the manuscripts department at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Youssef Zeidan; and Al-Masry Al-Youm’s chief editor Magdy el-Gallad. The seminar was managed by media host Tamer Amin.
In his speech, el-Gamal said that Al-Masry Al-Youm had provided readers with genuine news and objective analysis, devoid of sensationalism. What attracted him most was the paper’s differentiation between its administrative and editing bodies, he added.
Zeidan, responding to an invitation by el-Gallad, told a story about how he began writing for the newspaper. “When I asked the chief editor about how much leeway the paper would grant me, he replied: ‘As much as you need.’ Then I asked him if there were specific issues the newspaper did not want to tackle. He replied: ‘Write about anything you want.’ That’s how I started writing, without any monitoring or censorship.”
El-Gallad replied saying that Zeidan’s writing, though profound, was comprehensible to readers of all levels.
Zakariya el-Anany, professor of history at Alexandria University, expressed admiration for the new Alex edition, expressing hope that the paper would devote adequate attention to arts and culture. El-Gallad pointed out that Al-Masry Al-Youm included a literature supplement every Thursday and vowed to enrich the cultural side of the new Alex edition within coming days.
Zeidan said: “Some papers rely on sensationalism in a way that terrifies Egyptians abroad, who seek all their news about Egypt through newspapers.”
Journalist Neam el-Baz said that she was increasingly happy with Al-Masry Al-Youm, since it does not seek sensationalism as much as credibility. She expressed hope that the newspaper would foster journalistic skills among young people. El-Baz added that she had chaired a training workshop for children, in which a nine-year-old managed to photograph “inappropriate behavior” by pedestrians on the corniche. She hoped to see more area-specific editions of the newspaper for Upper Egypt and other regions.
Some attendees expressed hope that the Alex edition would reach all of Egypt’s provinces. Others criticized the repetition of photos and called for more focus on civil society activities.
At the end of the event, the hotel’s general manager presented both el-Gallad and Sherif Abdel Wadoud, vice-CEO of Al-Masry Al-Youm, with honorary plaques. Then attendees gathered around a cake prepared by the hotel especially for the occasion.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
