The crackdown on press freedom continues in Egypt, a country ranked as the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists, as the Supreme Council for Media Regulation has suspended the Cairo-based news outlet Mada Masr on Sunday for six months over allegedly “operating without a license, publishing fabricated news and inflicting harm …

Independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr has been referred to the country’s public prosecutor, and had its website blocked for six months, according to the online newspaper.

There is anticipation in the press and human rights community in Egypt regarding the information circulation law, its clauses that are up for discussion and its potential approval by the Egyptian Parliament over the next few months.

In a statement released on Monday, Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) slammed a report published by The Economist last week in regard to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

The Tourism and Civil Aviation Committee of the Egyptian Parliament approved a draft law to reorganize the Egyptian Meteorological Authority, which included imposing fines on those who publish false information about the weather.

When Mada Masr submitted registration paperwork in 2018 to license its website in accordance with a new media law, state authorities should have responded within 90 days to confirm or deny the request. However, there was no response.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published a 27-page report entitled “President Sisi’s puppets” showing how leading pro-government TV anchors and state-controlled media in Egypt are used to launch and then amplify smear campaigns against the few journalists still critical of the government.

This article is part of The New Arab’s States of Journalism series, a sustained exploration of freedom, repression, and accountability in MENA and global media landscapes. Read more of the series’ articles here.

TV presenter Hala Fahmy and journalist Safaa al-Korbagy, two outspoken critics of senior management at the National Broadcasting Authority, appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in recent days, according to their lawyers.

Egypt’s state television workers are protesting over the failure of employers to pay their bonuses over several years, bringing into focus the financial problems facing state media in the country.