The National Press Authority (NPA) was established in 2014 to manage all the state-owned print and online media outlets in Egypt. They include the publishers Al Ahram Publishing House, Dar Al Tahrir Publishing House, Akhbar Al Youm Foundation, Dar Al Hilal Publishing House, Rose Al Yousef Foundation and Dar Al Maaref, and the news agency Middle East News Agency (MENA).
Media assets
Print: Al Ahram Publishing House (Al Ahram, Al Ahram El Dawlia, Al Ahram Al Masai, Al Ahram Weekly (English), Al Ahram Hebdo (French), Al Shabab Magazine, Al Ahram Al Iktesadi, Al Ahram Al Ryadi, Al Syasa Al Dawlia, Nesf Al Donya, Alaa Al Deen, AhwalMasrya, Al Dimoqratya, Loghat Al Asr, Al Bayt, The strategic report (Arabic), The strategic report (English), Al Ahram Strategic File);
Dar Al Tahrir Publishing House (Al Gomhuria, Al Masa, The Egyptian Gazette, The Egyptian Mail (in English), La Bourse Egyptienne (in French), Le Progrès Egyptien (in French), Al Raay, Al Koura wa el mlaaeb, Al Alem Magazine, Ketab Al Gomhouria, Aqeedaty, Horyaty);
Akhbar Al Youm Foundation (Al Akhbar, Akhbar Al Youm weekly, Akher Saa, Akhbar Al Hwadeth, Akhbar Al Nogoom, Akhbar Al Adab, Akhbar Al Ryada, Al Lewaa Al Islam, Fares magazine, Kittab Al Youm, Kittab Al Youm Al Tebi, Braille News, Litterature News, El Masaa News, Akhbar Al Youm Classic);
Dar Al Hilal Publishing House (Al Hilal);
Rose Al Yousef Foundation (Rose al Yusuf);
Dar Al Maaref; News agency:Middle East News Agency (MENA);
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
The National Press Authority (NPA) was created as a public administration body in charge of running the Egyptian state print and online media as part of a legislative overhaul that began in 2014, which included the adoption of a new Constitution.
The NPA officially launched operations in 2018 when a new set of legal acts was adopted, one of them being Law No. 179 of 2018, which put forward the tasks of the NPA. According to the same law, the NPA’s main governing body consists of nine members appointed by the President (of whom three are directly appointed). The first NPA chairman, Karam Gabr, was appointed by President Sisi in April 2017. In June 2020, Gabr was promoted to the helm of the Supreme Council of Media Regulation (SCMR), Egypt’s state-controlled media regulatory authority. President Sisi chose in his stead Abdel-Sadek El-Shorbagy.
Source of funding and budget
According to local journalists and experts interviewed for this report in May 2024, NPA is funded through several sources, the predominant one being the state budget. NPA also gets 5% of the profits earned by state-owned press groups. In the fiscal year 2021/2022, NPA lost roughly EGP 12.6bn (US$800 m). According to a document from the finance ministry in Egypt, state funding accounts for two-thirds of NPA’s budget.
Editorial independence
The state media run by the NPA are editorially controlled by the government. According to local journalists and experts interviewed for this report, the control has stiffened in recent years following the legal changes affecting the media introduced in 2014. Officials at NPA openly admit that the group works to serve the government’s interests. NPA’s chair, Abdel-Sadek El-Shorbagy, said in September 2020 that NPA institutions “are one of the state pillars.”
No domestic statute or independent oversight or assessment mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of the authority’s print and online media have been identified.
July 2024