Egyptian Streets

Egyptian Streets
Type of site
 News website
Available in English
Editor

Mohamed Khairat

Co-founders:[1]
Assem Emam
Mostafa Amin
Website egyptianstreets.com
Launched July 2012

Egyptian Streets is an English language independent news website and organization founded in July 2012 by Egyptian journalist Mohamed Khairat as a blog, but later developed into a media company in March 2014. It claims to be the number one English media outlet in Egypt by reach. In February 2015, more than 800,000 visited the website.

The website tries to bring attention to environmental and social issues in Egypt, such as sexual harassment and the campaigns aimed at stopping it, through collaborations with a number of non-governmental organizations and movements. Its readers mostly consist of both bilingual Egyptians and non-Egyptians who either live in Egypt or abroad.

Content

The stated goal of Egyptian Streets is to provide its readers with "an alternate depiction of events that occur on Egyptian and Middle Eastern streets" and particularly aims to cover a wide range of topics and stories related to Egypt in a neutral manner.[1][2] It also managed to establish a social platform to discuss the various articles it publishes. Some of the issues it brought up are considered controversial and sensitive topics in Egypt and garnered significant attention from the readers, such as the debate of whether women in hijab should be banned from entering bars or not.[2][3] Egyptian Streets works to tackle even more challenging problems in Egyptian society such as sexual harassment and has a special coverage of protest movements, most notably the 2012–13 protests against the Muslim Brotherhood.[4]

In June 2014, Egyptian Streets published an article about a video that appeared on YouTube depicting a naked and injured woman who was sexually assaulted in Cairo's Tahrir Square when thousands took to there to celebrate President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's inauguration.[5] Various media organizations and news networks such as The Huffington Post,[6] La Stampa,[7] Spiegel Online[8] and Daily Mirror[9] among others have cited this article, along with several other publications about sexual harassment and issues related to women in Egypt, including an article about an iPhone video called "Creepers on the Bridge" that portrays the challenges a woman faces while walking the streets of Egypt.[10]

Collaborations

Egyptian Streets has collaborated with or supported a number of non-governmental organizations and grassroots movements in order to raise awareness and to promote social change and actions on a variety of issues, including the environment (Earth Hour being an example),[11] sexual harassment, animal rights, education, poverty and more.[1]

It managed to engage in a media partnership with Egypt's first Corporate Travel Market exhibition[12] and participated with a number of local and international organizations operating in Egypt in order to promote them, including AIESEC,[13] the United Nations Development Programme, which launched Get Online Week in Egypt,[14] as well as Cairo's Goethe-Institut to promote their program for Egypt's educational system.[15] It has also promoted campaigns aimed at stopping sexual violence against women, such as those of Dignity Without Borders[16] and Heya, an initiative that is mainly aimed at empowering the role of Egypt's women in society.[17]

Audience

Its audience primarily consists of English-speaking Egyptians, some of whom live abroad, as well as non-Egyptians from countries such as the United States and Australia among others, who are either interested in the cultural and touristic aspects of Egypt or reside in the country. 41% of the readers are aged between 18 and 34 and they also consist of both genders, with 51% of them being male and 49% female.[1][4]

Egyptian Streets claims to be the number one independent English media outlet in Egypt by reach, with an average number of 600,000 monthly visitors. The number reached more than 800,000 in February 2015.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "About Egyptian Streets". Egyptian Streets. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  2. 1 2 (Arabic) Al-Nubi, Mohamed (25 May 2014). "شوارع مصر " والانتخابات الرئاسية [Egyptian Streets and the presidential elections]". Al-Ahram. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  3. ↑ Khairat, Mohamed (19 June 2014). "Egypt.On veiled alcohol drinkers". Free Arabs. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 (Arabic) "قليل من كل شيء عن مصر [A little bit about everything in Egypt]". As-Safir. 24 March 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  5. ↑ Al-Arian, Lama (9 June 2014). "Woman stripped, beaten and sexually assaulted at Tahrir Square". Egyptian Streets. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  6. ↑ (Spanish) "El vídeo de la agresión sexual a una mujer en Tahrir provoca la detención de siete hombres en Egipto [The video of the sexual assault of a woman in Tahrir leads to the arrest of seven men in Egypt]". The Huffington Post. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  7. ↑ (Italian) "Egitto: basta con il terrorismo sessuale contro le donne! [Egypt: enough with the sexual terror against women!]". La Stampa. 13 February 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  8. ↑ (German) "Belästigung in Ägypten: So ergeht es jungen Frauen auf der Nil-Brücke [Harassment in Egypt: This happens to young women across the Nile bridge]". Speigel Online. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  9. ↑ Roberts, Gareth (3 September 2014). "Shocking film made on iPhone highlights sexism and harassment on streets of Egypt". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  10. ↑ Khairat, Mohamed (2 September 2014). "Hidden Camera Shows Haunting Stares Women Face on Egypt's Streets". Egyptian Streets. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Egypt's Pyramids Go Dark For Climate Change Awareness". Egyptian Streets. 30 March 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "Corporate Travel Market (1st exhibition)". Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  13. ↑ "AIESEC: Egypt's Identity Crisis and Its Youth". Egyptian Streets. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  14. ↑ "Get Online Week: Development Through Technology in MENA". Egyptian Streets. 27 March 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  15. ↑ El Sehity, Magda (31 May 2014). "What education in Egypt is lacking". Egyptian Streets. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  16. ↑ Khairat, Mohamed (13 April 2014). "The Campaign to End Sexual Terrorism in Egypt". Egyptian Streets. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  17. ↑ "Heya Initiative". Egyptian Streets. 22 March 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  18. ↑ "Independent Media In Egypt, Egyptian Streets". Indiegogo. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
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