Rights group slams Egypt’s ‘nationalization’ of media

CAIRO – An international media rights group has voiced alarm over Egypt’s “roundabout nationalization” of once-independent outlets.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday criticized the state-run Akhbar al-Youm newspaper’s recent acquisition of the English-language Daily News Egypt and Al-Borsa, a financial daily.

Authorities froze the assets of the publications’ parent company last year and placed its chairman on a terrorism list over his suspected links to the Muslim Brotherhood group. Egypt has also blocked the outlets’ websites.

Egypt has blocked hundreds of websites in recent months, including many operated by independent journalists and rights groups, as part of a broader crackdown on dissent.

Virtually all local media outlets in Egypt today are supportive of the government, which came to power after the military overthrew an elected Islamist president in 2013.