Broadcast from Cairo

Cairo News is a new regional channel that will finally see the light coinciding with the opening of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh next month.

The launch of the channel fulfills a call voiced for years in light of Egypt’s once leading media, cultural and artistic role in the Arab World, Africa and the Middle East.

Cairo is duly entitled to run a regional news channel of a highly professional standard, given the nation’s distinguished elements of anchors, editors and technicians who are highly in demand in several channels based in Arab capitals.

Cairo News is actually one among a media group including four channels established by the United Media Service Company, which is currently taking the helm at the domestic media scene.

Two of these channels will be local ones, including Extra News, which has already been operating since 2016. The company will build on the success of Extra News to further develop its content and overall performance. The fourth channel is an international one, which is still in the pipeline.

The timing of the launch of Cairo News has been wisely chosen because COP27 reflects Egypt’s role as the voice of Africa and developing   countries on climate issues. Similarly, the channel, which will surely cover the summit, will be a regional mouthpiece that focuses on various issues of concern to Arabic-speaking countries.

Egypt had the lead in launching a radio station (Voice of the Arabs) back in the 1950s, which proved to be a great success in consolidating a feeling of Pan Arab nationalism. It reported from various Arab countries and was followed by listeners from across the Arab World.

However, Cairo News will be challenged by the fact that other regional news services have established themselves very well on the regional media map for several years now. The ability of Cairo News to attract millions will rely, to a great extent, on professional objectivity, content, a generous budget and the margin allowed for counter opinion to express itself.

Much is expected of this new channel so that it would be reflective of the country’s regional status and media role in general. It must be taken into consideration that the channel engages an experienced staff, basically those who had previously worked for Maspero (Egyptian TV and radio building) news sector, deemed a versatile media school of its own.

Moreover, the recent launch of the political national dialogue, in which representatives of all parties of the political spectrum are taking place, should also give vehemence to the new channel.

It is to be hoped that Cairo News would also broadcast in English to widen the scope of viewers and make its message far reaching.