This one-day conference, organized by IRCPL Distinguished Visiting Scholar Emad Shahin and IRCPL Director Karen Barkey, will present a critical overview and analysis of the role played by both Egyptian and Western media in Egypt’s post-January 2011 political transition. Particular attention will be paid to the lead-up to Egypt’s July 3, 2013 military coup and the post-coup period. Presentations will address the current state of free expression in Egypt, and evaluate media professionalism in Egypt’s news media. Experts will discuss how Egypt’s press system may need to be restructured in order to facilitate a democratic turn.

The conference schedule is available below.  A detailed description of the panels will be available soon.  More information on each of our panelists is available here.

Covering Egypt is sponsored by the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life and co-sponsored by the Center for Democracy, Toleration, and Religion and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University.

Registration is required for this event.  Register now by completing the form here.  One registration per email address only.

This event will also be broadcast live by Al Jazeera Mubasher.  You can watch it online at mubasher.aljazeera.net.

The conference will be in Schermerhorn Hall on Columbia's Morningside Campus, in room 501.  An interactive campus map is available here.  See a map of Schermerhorn Hall, with highlighted routes from the 116th Street subway stop on Broadway and from the St. Paul's Chapel Gate on Amsterdam Ave here.

Schedule:

9:00- 9:15 am:  Welcome and Opening Remarks, by Karen Barkey (Columbia University)

9:15-11:00 am: The Role of the Media in Egypt’s Military Coup     

Moderator: Emad Shahin (Columbia University / Woodrow Wilson International Center of Scholars)
      Wael Abbas (Misr Digital)
      Mohamad Elmasry (University of Denver)
      Sharif Abdel Kouddous (Democracy Now! Cairo; the Nation)

11:00 – 11:15 am: Break
11:15-1:00 pm: The Media, Human Rights, and Free Speech in Egypt     

Moderator: Karen Barkey (Columbia University)     

Jamal Elshayyal (Al Jazeera English)     

Sebastian Backhaus (Freelance Journalist, Photographer)     

Sarah Leah Whitson (Human Rights Watch)

1:00 – 2:30 pm: Lunch Break

2:40 – 4:15 pm: Western Media, International Politics, and Egypt’s Military Coup      Moderator: Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!)

Nadia abou el-Magd (Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr)     

Dalia Fahmy (Long Island University)
David Hearst (Middle East Eye)     

Alfred Stepan (Columbia University)

4:15 – 4:30 pm: Concluding Remarks: Emad Shahin (Columbia University / Woodrow Wilson International Center of Scholars)