On Monday, members of independent daily Al-Dostour’s staff who had opposed the newspaper’s recent sale and the firing of its chief editor, Ibrahim Eissa, launched a new online paper–with Eissa back in the driver's seat.
The website has been dubbed “The Real Al-Dostour” to avoid any possible legal entanglements.
The original Al-Dostour does not currently have an online version, since the domain name–registered under Eissa’s name–was not specified in the contract that put Al-Dostour in the hands of new owners in August.
“The content of the website will follow the same editorial policy as the original Al-Dostour,” said website managing editor Hesham Obia.
A drastic change in the original paper's editorial policy has been evident since many members of the original Al-Dostour team were sacked by the new owners. Therefore, a number of the paper’s original contributors–such as Omar Taher, Nawara Negm and Tarek al-Shenaway–plan to write for the new online version.
Last month, Al-Dostour's new board of directors–led by businessman Reda Edward–abruptly fired Ibrahim. Most of Dostour’s journalists staged demonstrations shortly afterward to protest Eissa's sacking and unsatisfactory working conditions.
Around 37 ex-Al-Dostour journalists, in addition to 15 trainees, are now providing the new website with stories and features. The team is temporarily working out of the Journalists Syndicate's downtown headquarters, with a promise to find new premises in coming weeks.
“The current writing team will cooperate on a friendly basis until we find sponsors for advertisements on the website,” said Obia, who confirmed that Eissa was paying the team stipends out of his own pocket.
Members of Al-Dostour’s former team confirmed that they planned to launch a new print daily within months.
“We’ll issue a print version as soon as we get a new license,” Ibrahim Manour, former Al-Dostour managing editor–who was sacked along with Eissa–told Al Masry Al Youm. “For the time being, though, we’re going to work from the new website."
Eissa’s first editorial in the new online publication, published on Monday, argued that political reform in Egypt would require a very long time.
“What crazy person said the Mubarak regime was going to change overnight?” he asked. “Change from such an oppressive… system–rooted in corruption and suppression–will not happen easily or quickly or freely."
The editorial was met with an outpouring of comments congratulating Eissa on his comeback.
