In Egypt, a new outlet for reform

At the G-8 summit, the Bush administration agreed to a statement on Middle Eastern reform that softened earlier demands for change, seeking to reassure Arab government's that their fate is in their own hands. "Successful reform depends on the countries in the region, and change should not and can not be imposed from outside," the statement read.

There are reasons why Egypt Today is seen as potentially threatening to the sitting government.

"The time is right in Egypt to inform public opinion and change this stagnant political situation,'' says editor in chief Anwar al-Hawary, who says he took a big pay cut to work at the venture. "Most of our newspapers are machines of propaganda."

While Kassem says his overwhelming goal is simply to build a professional and profitable paper that focuses on Egypt's domestic problems, he hopes one of its byproducts will be to broaden the space for dialogue inside a country where the ruling National Democratic Party of Mr. Mubarak severely restricts the freedom of opposition parties and can count on fawning coverage from the nation's major dailies.

Kassem says his backers have become fed up with a stagnant economy and nonexistent financial and political reforms, and see the paper as a potential agent of change. "These guys have been waiting for a bank to be privatized since 1991, and after a certain point you get tired of waiting," he says.

The June 9 issues of Egypt Today and Al-Ahram, the major government-owned daily, show the differences. The front page of Egypt Today had stories on government tax increases for new-car purchases, a polio outbreak in Upper Egypt, complaints from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood that members are being tortured in Egyptian jails, a reduction in fertilizer subsidies for farmers, and two international stories - one each on Iraq and Israel.

Meanwhile, Al-Ahram had two stories on Mubarak - one on his positive role in Africa and the other about his wife Suzanne's desire for an "international peace culture" to emerge, and five international stories on Iraq, Israel, and the US.

"I can promise you that you'll never see a headline in our paper blaring 'Ariel Sharon is a Pig,' '' says Kassem, referring to the tendency of some Arab papers to demonize the Israeli prime minister. "This paper isn't going to be anti-American, or anti-Israel. No editorializing. I just want straight news."

Mr. Alrawi of Internews says he doubts the new paper will have much impact in a country where Al-Ahram sells nearly a million copies and where more and more people get the news from the region's satellite channels. "This could be an interesting venture - anything that Hisham is involved in will have some integrity,'' says Alrawi. "But it's so hard to make a success of a newspaper."

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