CAIRO – Head of the National Press Authority (NPA) Abdel Sadiq el Shorbagi asserted the political leadership’s keenness to support the national press institutions.
This came during a plenary meeting on Monday with the newly-appointed chairmen of the boards of directors and editors-in-chief of national newspapers and the Middle East News Agency (MENA).
The National Press Authority is working to develop the working mechanisms in national press institutions, e-portals and social media through balanced editorial policies that serve the goals of the Egyptian State and the national action framework, Shorbagi said.
He also stressed the need to achieve complete harmony between editors-in-chief and heads of boards of directors.
Shorbagi also underlined the necessity of stimulating the processes of monitoring the performance of press institutions, achieving a breakthrough in news and journalistic content, and continuing to support comprehensive governance in the management of work in national press institutions.
He also called for modernising working mechanisms in national press institutions, developing e-portals, and paying attention to digital journalism.
As for the Middle East News Agency, Shorbagi said that there is an integrated and overall plan to enhance the efficiency of the Egyptian National News Agency (the Middle East News Agency (MENA), promote its key role in the regional and international media arena, address global public opinion in the same language, and develop the work of the agency’s external and internal offices, a matter that reflects the comprehensive renaissance that Egypt is currently witnessing.
Shorbagi said it is necessary to work to control aspects of public spending in national institutions and at the same time work to maximize their revenues, in a way that ensures the discipline of work in them.
He stressed the necessity of constant communication between leaders and workers in national press institutions, and intensifying training, performance development and rehabilitation programmes to create a new generation of young editors in national newspapers, directing the energies of institutions and improving their performance.
He noted that the NPA works to ensure and monitor the proper investment in fixed assets of national institutions, develop their investment projects, and overcome any obstacles facing them, in a way that enhances self-financing and does not conflict with the nature of the work at these institutions, their mission and the role assigned to them, and to maintain the sustainability of their profitability.
He said that the NPA has succeeded in transforming a number of investment companies, affiliated to national institutions, from a loss-making activity to an activity that generates revenues.
Shorbagi concluded by thanking the heads of the boards of directors and the outgoing editor-in-chiefs for their contributions and efforts to support the message of the national press over the past four years.
He called on the new leaders in national institutions to build on the achievements made within the framework of communication between the new leaders and the previous ones, stressing that the authority will continue to support all national press institutions in the coming stage.
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