The Egypt Independent, an Egyptian weekly newspaper published in English by Al-Masry Al-Youm news organisation, has been told their publication will shut down. Its news website will also close.
"We have been notified by Al-Masry Al-Youm's management that our newspaper can no longer continue to exist due to financial losses sustained by the organisation last year," reads the statement published by the Egypt Independent team on Facebook on Sunday.
In an effort to challenge the decision issued by Al-Masry Al-Youm's management, which dubbed the hasty closure decision "final," the newspaper's team has put forward several "cost-cutting and revenue-generating measures."
Among these, the team has been promoting their subscriptions service in part by creating a Facebook event to encourage their readers to subscribe to their 52-annual print issues.
Egypt Independent's statement also went to say that Al-Masry Al-Youm's management has been concerned with cutting losses by "mainly targeting Al-Masry Media Corporation's recent investments, including Al-Siyasy [weekly magazine published in Arabic, founded in August 2012] magazine."
Egypt Independent was established as a website in 2009 by the privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm news organisation, which already publishes an Arabic daily paper since 2004. In 2011, Egypt Independent started publishing a weekly print edition.
"We want to continue reporting with honesty, integrity and a critical voice, especially at a time when the current administration and ruling party are hiding the truth about their commitment to the revolution and its democratic aspirations from the world," the Egypt Independent team said in their appeal.
