All the state newspapers, and most of the independent ones, lead with details of President Mubarak’s appearance Tuesday before television cameras—the first images of the 81-year-old ruler since 6 March, when he underwent emergency gallbladder removal surgery. The video footage showed Mubarak in a bathrobe chatting comfortably with doctors in Heidelberg, Germany.
Most of the state coverage treads on the exact same ground, but Al-Ahram manages a bubbly inside headline that feels like the start of an unfinished haiku poem: “Stong will…and high morale…and huge optimism.”
Al-Dostour pushes most of the Mubarak news inside and reserves the front page for teaser headlines and (bizarrely) a huge advertisement for a National Democratic Party youth campaign. Inside, a pair of harshly written columns dominate page two. Saad Eddin Ibrahim asks, “Why is Egypt afraid of international monitoring of elections?”
The prominent Egyptian sociologist, who lives in America and faces a two-year prison sentence for defaming Egypt if he returns, demands that Mubarak, “immediately appoint a vice president.”
On the same page, Sekina Fouad vents about Mubarak’s choice to undergo his surgery and recovery in Germany, and asks “Is this President Mubarak’s opinion of Egyptian hospitals?”
Al-Dostour’s two-page spread of Mubarak coverage includes some small pictures of gallbladder surgery (presumably not Mubarak’s) and a profile of his German doctor Markus Buechler under the headline: “The future of Egypt’s president lies in this man’s hands.”
There’s also an analysis listing the “nine senior officials” who are said to be running Egypt in the president’s absence. The story alleges that presidential Chief of Staff Zakaria Azmi has emerged as one of the most powerful voices.
Egypt’s newspapers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run
Rose el-Youssef: Daily, state-run, close to the National Democratic Party’s Policies Secretariat
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouq:Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Sawt el-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
