Mona El Saghir ( ar, منى الصغير) is the former head of the

Egyptian television Television in Egypt is mainly received through free satellite, while analog terrestrial represents 41% of total viewers. The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said the average time an Egyptian spends watching televisio ...

Script Review and Material Classification Department, previously known as the

Censorship Department, (رقابة التليفزيون المصرى). The department is the central department responsible for reviewing scripts and video materials airing on state-run

: terrestrial, satellite, and on the ''Nile Television Network''. The department has over 257 employees and is divided into Arabic and English departments for reviewing scripts and video materials including: films, programs and TV shows, series and commercials.

Intellectual State Censors

Since 2005, drama makers' complaints about the ignorance of censors in dealing with the art of drama have decreased dramatically. During 20 months only,

censors received some 66 courses in different aspects of script writing, diction, camera skills and technicalities. This has after a long struggle, managed to retrieve communication between state-run television and artists, who have for long suffered from censors' blind and sabotaging scissors. In 2008, El Saghir introduced TV ratings, when episodes of the controversial show '' The Bold and the Beautiful'' were aired semi uncut with an intro-screen warning parents that the show was suitable for "Adults Only". The airing of the episodes was criticized for the sexual nature of the entire show. Further TV rating categories are due in 2010 where drama and TV shows will be rated from Parental Guidance (PG) to ''Adults Only''.الرقابة تتجاوز عن مشاهد زنى المحارم فى مسلسل الجرئ والجميلة
''

Youm7 ''Youm7'' ( ar, اليوم السابع, , meaning ''The Seventh Day'') is an Egyptian privately owned daily newspaper. It was first published as a weekly paper in October 2008 and has been published daily since May 2011. It is published in Arab ...

''. (in Arabic). The Egyptian Censorship Department participates in the ''Euro - Mediterraneo Annual Conference in Italy'' that aims to" develop mutually beneficial projects that involve the new public and private interlocutors in

Arab states of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. ...

, in the context of the priority sectors for the development of

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

area that include infrastructure and energy networks, logistics, technological innovation, information and mass media." The

ERTU The Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU; ar, إتحاد الإذاعة والتلفزيون المصري ''Itteh'ad Al-Edhaa'a wa at-Televezyon al-Mis'ri'') is the public broadcaster of Egypt, operated by the Egyptian government. It is a me ...

also participates as an active member in the ''Eurovision TV Summit'', held by the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

(

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

) in Switzerland, where Saghir is a member of the fiction committee. Saghir is a co-founder of ''the International Media Forum, Egypt''.

"The Season of Reconciliation"

During the holy month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

2009, when TV productions and viewership are at their peak, the censors' tolerance initiated what local newspapers such as

Almasry Alyoum ''Al-Masry Al-Youm'' ( ar, المصري اليوم ', , meaning ''The Egyptian Today'') is an Egyptian privately owned Daily paper, daily newspaper that was first published in June 2004. It is published in Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic as is it ...

claimed was ''"the season of reconciliation"'' between drama and local TV. The perspective of state censors has changed to drama makers, as dialogue between the censors and writers/directors has left old taboos like sexuality, drugs and politics and many social ills once in the dark, open for fair discussions before being censored. Many agree that the level of openness has been improved significantly and many artists and dramatists find the new department to be refreshingly dynamic and relatively liberal since Saghir took office.

The Forum

Mona is also a board member of the global forum for media and development, the GFMD egypt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saghir, Mona El- Living people Egyptian television presenters Egyptian women television presenters Egyptian film critics Egyptian women film critics Year of birth missing (living people)