The State of Journalism and Media in Egypt Annual Report 2024

التقرير الاحصائى 2024 copy: To read the report:

First: Violations
The year 2024 witnessed 781 violations against journalists and media professionals. Some of these violations were frequent and recurring, while others were less common.

Violations related to the economic rights of journalists and media professionals were the most frequent, with 610 cases of financial rights being withheld, 600 violations of these involved the withholding of journalistic rights affecting 200 journalists at a single press institution.

The second most common violation was the “renewal of detention pending investigations,” occurring 74 times during the year. In third place, with a significant gap, was unfair dismissal, with 18 cases recorded in 2024. Fourth was arbitrary arrest, with 15 cases involving journalists and media professionals. Fifth, violations such as “denial of media coverage” and “physical assault” each occurred 10 times during the year.

Additionally, the year witnessed 8 cases of verbal abuse or threats, 4 cases of release on financial bail (which the observatory considers a violation as the default is to release without financial conditions), 4 cases of illegal detention or stopping, and 4 cases of banning media content from broadcasting or airing. Furthermore, there were 3 cases each in the following categories: defamation, intellectual property theft, and confiscation or seizure of belongings. There were 2 cases each of personal belongings being damaged or burned, media content being removed, media outlets being closed, and bans on practicing journalism. Lastly, there was 1 case each of the following violations: restriction on journalistic work, causing injury, damage or burning of work equipment, online verbal threats, and judicial rulings of imprisonment.

When analyzing the 781 violations in 2024 by the gender of the victim, 602 violations targeted groups of journalists, including both males and females. Meanwhile, 144 violations specifically targeted male journalists, 23 targeted female journalists, and 12 targeted entire journalistic institutions