Human Rights Watch provides more evidence that the Egyptian government is continuing to harass private media providers. A sure sign that the regime is in deep trouble.

Egyptian authorities have enforced media licensing laws to punish a company associated with broadcasting information critical of the government, Human Rights Watch said today.

The state-run Radio and Television Union brought a complaint against the Cairo News Company (CNC) on April 8, 2008, the day after Al Jazeera broadcast coverage of large anti-government street protests in the Nile Delta. CNC provides satellite transmission services and equipment to television networks operating in Egypt, including Al Jazeera, BBC, and CNN. On April 17, 35 plainclothes police officers raided CNC’s Cairo offices, confiscating its five sets of satellite transmission equipment and thereby shutting it down. Nader Gohar, CNC’s owner, has been charged with importing and owning television equipment and transmitting television broadcasts without permission. He is due to stand trial on May 26 and if convicted would face fines and at least one year in prison.

“Egypt’s closure of CNC and its prosecution of Nader Gohar are just the latest episodes in the government’s campaign to stifle freedom of the press,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. “The government has already attacked several satellite news channels, apparently because it doesn’t like the news they transmit.”

Read the rest here.

Footage from Al Jazeera News 7 April 2008:

Chantal Berman at the consistently excellent Global Media Project publishes an essay titled ‘Review of Al Jazeera‘, in which she assesses the English language service Al Jazeera launched in 2006. One of the most interesting aspects of the essay is the role of Al Jazeera in the debate on Arab unity, a contentious issue at the best of times. I’m posting a snippet here, but I recommend reading the whole article:

And so the question remains: has Al Jazeera – can Al Jazeera – become a new platform for Arab unity? Certainly, Al Jazeera’s arrival has permanently changed the landscape of Arab media and ripped legitimacy away from many complacent, state-based news outlets. And Al Jazeera has done more than almost any other institution to keep the Arab public involved in discussions about its future – this unity, if it succeeds, won’t just be one of statesmen and elites, of mutual enemies and border elisions. Of course, certain dangers remain: Al Jazeera could become another one of many pundit-like Arab news outlets, or alternately, it could become so dedicated to argument that actual reporting falls to the wayside. Yet Al Jazeera runs a lot of introspective programming, examining its own role and its own performance in shaping and informing Arab opinion, and occasionally comparing its coverage to CNN, BBC, and the like. As long as Al Jazeera maintains this critical eye, on itself and on everything else, the chances of continued public service to the Arab world, and perhaps the rest of the world, are good. Here’s to hoping.