Fast to get, fresh and just out of the oven, is how news is being developed day after day. Following decades of old, stale news, recent technologies enable immediate news flashes for everyone, everywhere. You can now report what you see exactly as it happens – creating your own part of the news. It's called 'new media' and it's the subject of heated debate. "There is a whole vivid world of news online with immediate updates and utmost interactivity," Sherif Darweesh, a professor of electronic journalism at Cairo University, told the Mail. "It's challenging the traditional media, leaving them in serious jeopardy." The new media have been becoming more important in Egypt, as the number of Internet users here keeps on growing. Internet was first introduced in Egypt in 1993. Internet users in this most populous Arab country scored 14.5 million last November, compared to 300,000 users in 1999, according to a recent report by the Information and Decision-making Support Centre (IDSC). The Internet and the recent technologies associated with it have encouraged the media and news production to develop. The Internet presents an endless space for content and information with instant global connectivity, as well as engaging the user closely in the process, so that he becomes a news-supplier – not just a receiver. For Sherif, modern communication technologies present opportunities rather than threats. He believes that the time for "old media channels to develop has come" and that the future holds more of the same. Egyptian media have been directed in the past few years towards online connectivity; that's why over 40 per cent of Egyptian printed newspapers and magazines now have electronic copies. There are also three Egyptian TV channels that now broadcast their content online and 33 online radio stations. "In our website, we adopt the notion that people create news; they are news sources," Abdel-Latif el-Mannawi, Director of TV Egypt News, says. "Hence, we open the floor for people to contribute their news with us instantly in a bid to present a model for professional-citizen journalism partnership." What concerns el-Mannawi the most when dealing with people's news contributions is communicating what he calls responsible journalism that presents the news objectively, after checking for accuracy and sources. The challenge in reaching this "responsible journalism" could be under control in a State-owned news provider like Egypt News, but it's quite different when it comes to news blogs or websites. The IDSC report shows that blogging in Egypt – which first appeared in the nineties – has been increasingly remarkably, representing 30.7 per cent of blogging in the Arab World and 0.2 per cent of the world's blogs. "This freedom can be really dangerous, especially when used recklessly," a professor of journalism at Cairo University Mahmoud Allam Eddin told this newspaper. "On an online blog, you can write or screen whatever you want and share it with others. This means that there is a strong stream of news, but there is also a stream of rumours." Having been a professor in this field for around three decades, Allam Eddin doesn't call for guardianship of websites or online journalism, arguing that a regulatory code would help reduce the risks. Another thing that needs regulation in the online news industry is the ‘comments' section, which is an option that allows readers to have their say on what they read on the website. So far in Egypt, experts say it would be more appropriate to call it the 'criticism section'. "Comments have changed the view of audiences from negative receivers into positive and active partners in the media process," says Abdel-Moneim Saeed, the Chairman of Al-Ahram Press House. "We still need more time to understand the difference between criticism and comment but we are absolutely on the right track. "In Al-Ahram, we started it months ago and the results were more than amazing. The interaction and the co-operation between different audiences – in many cases – enriched the stories." Writing news stories now, you don't need to be a journalist; you can publish whatever you want immediately online. If you can't write, you still have the chance to capture photos or videos and upload them creating your own news stream. That's what citizen journalism is about. The concept of citizen journalism was recently introduced to the Egyptian media arena. However, the practice started years before that when people started to blog, tweet and post news on websites. "We must confess that there is an earthquake shaking journalism models nowadays," says Hanan Abdel-Meguid, Chief Executive Officer of Link Development – the founder of Masrawi news website. "Nowadays, people want to know the pulse of the news and keep in touch with the entire world. That's why journalism has to adapt and co-operate more with the audience." Hanan sees a very special media business model in news websites with its "stunning interactivity" and sees that the future is smiling at those moving in this direction. She even suggests that the impact of online news will be felt sooner than expected. "Speed, interaction and brevity are what people want in news nowadays and that's exactly how it goes online," she explains. "That's how the media should develop. Let's just wait and see."
