Egyptian News

THE MIDDLE EAST NEWS AGENCY (MENA)

This agency, also called the Egyptian National News Agency, is considered to be the first news agency in
Egypt, the Middle East, and Africa. Established in 1956, it represents an important means for covering this region of the world. With its main concern being the Arab World and the Middle East, it is one of the prestigious and credible regional news agencies. At first, MENA was jointly owned by the private Egyptian press and the State. In 1962, however, the Egyptian Press was nationalized and it became State-owned and affiliated to the Ministry of Information. In the seventies, it became attached to the Radio and Television Union. Finally, in 1980, all the national written mass media, MENA included, were transferred the second House of Parliament to ensure their freedom. Today, MENA is an independent press institution run by a Board of Directors with the authority to lay down its policy and administrative system.

ENTERING THE SATELLITE AGE

• 1993 - Agency set up a network to receive satellite transmission to follow up international news bulletins, as well as satellite transmission centers to cover the whole world. Headquarters were in Cairo and Paris.
• 1994 - News transmission began via three satellites. Bulletins reached all of Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas in Arabic, English, and French.
• 1997 - A central computer system was launched for the editing and transmission of bulletins. It started with 75 work stations for editing news and 2 servers for storage and transmission. Also started its presence on the Internet through its own web site in three languages.

MENA OFFICES AND CORRESPONDENTS

The agency covers all the Egyptian governorates. It has offices in Alexandria, Aswan, Assuit, Qena, and Luxor. Twenty one correspondents are spread out in the different governorates.

• IT HAS 16 BUREAUS AND CORRESPONDENTS IN THE ARAB NATION

These cities are Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, Kuwait, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Sanaa, Amman, Palestine, Khartoum, Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, Rabat, Nouakchott, and Mogadishu.

• IT HAS 12 BUREAUS AND CORRESPONDENTS IN EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES

These cities are Washington, New York, London, Paris, Moscow, Bonne, Rome, Montreal, Geneva, Sarajevo, Athens, and Sofia.

• IT HAS FIVE BUREAUS AND CORRESPONDENTS IN AFRICA

These cities are Nairobi, Adis Ababa, Dakar, Johannesburg, and Kinshasa. It is intended to increase the number to include other African capitals.

• IT HAS EIGHT BUREAUS AND CORRESPONDENTS IN ASIA

These cities are Islamabad, Kabul, Ankara, Beijing, Jakarta, New Delhi, Bangkok, and Seoul.

• IT HAS THREE CORRESPONDENTS IN LATIN AMERICA

These cities are Buenos Aires, Brasilia, and Mexico City.

MENA seeks to exchange news and photos with 25 Arab and foreign news agencies. It also welcomes any media cadres from Arab and friendly countries who need training in editing, management, and media engineering. MENA is a member of the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies. It prides itself on being the only Third World news agency that allows the news to flow directly to the local information media from all news agencies without any interference.

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