[ecrea] Rebuilding Egyptian Media for a Democratic Future

*CAIRO UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE MARCH 30-31, 2011*

*CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS*

* *

*Rebuilding Egyptian Media for a Democratic Future*

Reforming the media is an urgent part of the democratisation called for 
by Egypt's 25 January revolution. Cairo University's Faculty of Mass 
Communication has therefore made it a priority to assess different 
options for a democratic system of media and communication in Egypt. In 
order to develop a model that enables a free flow of information and 
opinions in and out of Egypt and among all sectors of Egyptian society, 
the Faculty has taken the initiative of organising a consultation event 
in Cairo in collaboration with the University of Westminster's Arab 
Media Centre, a research subgroup of the university's Communication and 
Media Research Institute (CAMRI).

The event will begin on March 30^th 2011 with a one-day open conference. 
Contributions are invited, at very short notice, from scholars and 
practitioners who wish to take part by drawing on their existing 
research or experience to make short presentations on topics related to 
the following themes:

· Lessons of previous democratisations

· Enabling the environment for free, independent, pluralistic, 
decentralized and responsible media

· Legal frameworks for the media

· Establishing and sustaining public service media

· Transformation of state-owned media into democratic media in Egypt

· Telecoms, Internet services and citizen empowerment

· Social, economic and cultural requirements for democratic media

Speakers at the conference on March 30^th will then be invited to join a 
discussion workshop on March 31^st at which international experts 
recruited by the two universities, Cairo and Westminster, will focus on 
specific issues relating to the themes listed above.

Please send a 150-word outline of your proposed presentation, together 
with your name, affiliation, email and postal address and brief 
biographical note to Professor Basyouni Hamada at Cairo University 
((basyouni_hamada /at/ yahoo.com) <mailto:(basyouni_hamada /at/ yahoo.com)>) and 
Professor Naomi Sakr at the University of Westminster ((sakrn /at/ wmin.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(sakrn /at/ wmin.ac.uk)>), to reach them by March 14^th 2011 at the 
latest.  Selected participants will be notified by March 17^th . There 
is no registration fee for this event but, because of the short notice, 
there is also no outside funding. It is hoped that, in the 
circumstances, individual participants will be funded by their own 
institutions as a signal of support to Egypt's democratisation.