Daily News Egypt, the country’s only independent English-language newspaper, has closed. All operations, including those of its website, ceased to operate over the weekend, according to Chief Editor Rania Al-Malky, leaving the 100-year-old government-run Egyptian Gazette as the only English-language newspaper.
“I think it’s a huge loss, a terrible loss; the impact we are seeing on newspapers all over the world,” Al-Malky told The Media Line. “Media are changing faster than we expected.
We were the first independent newspaper and it was the challenge of a lifetime just to get the story right – especially when there is conflicting news,” Al-Malky said.
Although the collapse of the Egyptian economy since the overthrow of former President Husni Mubarak has taken a toll on advertising and media institutions, Al-Malky insisted that Arabic-language newspapers are thriving in Egypt because of the pace of public events – literally “hundreds at a time” – including elections, the drafting of a new constitution; and the transition to the post-Mubarak era.
According to Al-Malky, because advertisers were not attracted to the English-language press as a mass media target, it was nearly impossible to sell them advertising. The English market is comprised primarily of the diplomatic corps and tourists, whose numbers have fallen since the revolution.
Ahmed El-Demerdash, one of the newspaper’s investors, told The Media Line that he was “devastated” and that Daily News Egypt’s closing “is a tremendous loss.” He explained that, “the paper lost 75% of its advertising – it ran out of cash. Over $1 million has been lost on this venture since 2006. No money had been taken out of the business.”
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=34988 [3]