On November 24, Egypt Independent, Al-Masry Al-Youm’s English sister publication, issued its first edition. But the promising new 24-page weekly hasn’t made it to the newsstands since.

The second issue was expected to come out on December 1 but was “halted” during the printing process, according to Lina Attalah, managing editor of Egypt Independent and Al-Masry Al-Youm’s English online edition.

Attalah says that at first her colleague Magdy El-Gallad, the editor-in-chief of Al-Masry Al-Youm Arabic, “took issue” with an article that was critical of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). According to the Guardian’s December 15 edition, the article was an opinion piece written by Robert Springborg, titled “Is Tantawi Reading the Field Correctly?” Springborg questioned the ability of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to contain divisions among the army’s ranks and prophesied a possible coup.

Attalah says that El-Gallad told her the “article could be problematic. We edited the article and we made it milder.” But for some reason unknown to Attalah, El-Gallad reportedly made sure that the issue wouldn’t come out and stopped it during the printing process.

Egypt Independent’s team, who say they are very keen to adhere to the highest standards of journalistic integrity, “decided to be very transparent with the whole issue from the beginning,” says Attalah. On their website they posted an editorial explaining what was preventing them from publishing another edition.

“This interruption has not only caused us a major frustration after putting days of work and much investment into the project, it has also disappointed our nascent readership,” they wrote.

The editorial emphasized that Egypt Independent had not been stopped by authorities or outside forces, but rather from imposed self-censorship, a practice they profoundly oppose. “If self-censorship becomes internalized and goes unquestioned, it becomes an irreversible practice. We refuse to let this happen.”

Readers left many encouraging and positive comments on the editorial, which clearly explained the situation and reflected genuine aspirations of the team to provide transparency.

“Bravery. Courage. Integrity. Intelligence. Compassion. Humility. That is what I see in this initiative. Bravo!” wrote a reader who didn’t leave his name. Another reader, Salma Nagy, commented, “I salute you for your position. It shows great self-respect. I’m sure the decision to stop the newspaper for now is not an easy one but censorship is not something to compromise on, and I’m happy to see Egyptian media finally take a stance on this.”

Al-Masry Al-Youm management is also fully supporting Egypt Independent’s team, according to Attalah. But, in order to maintain the ethics they believe in, she says “we’ve decided not to put out another issue until we get our own license.”

(Currently, Egypt Independent is only able to operate under the license of Al-Masry Al-Youm Arabic, an arrangement that allows El-Gallad control over the Independent’s editorial, as the editor-in-chief is responsible in the eyes of the government.)

Obtaining a license does take time, and Attalah notes, “The issues we have with acquiring a license are mostly bureaucratic, nothing political in it.”

Attalah’s team is still reporting full-time for the web and producing stories daily, as Egypt Independent awaits its true independence.
— Hana Zuhair