Recently, millions of Egyptians crowded round TV sets in Cairo to watch two presidential candidates debate their country's future. For citizens more used to having a political system imposed on them than joining in the discussion, they seem to have adapted quickly. Cheers and applause broke out as the candidates each exploited their opponent's weaknesses. Interviews with spectators were forthcoming, something unthinkable under the ousted Mubarak.
It was the first televised political debate the country had ever seen, pitting two of thirteen candidates against each other. The choice of participants was controversial: Arab League Chief Amr Moussa, who served as foreign minister under Mubarak for ten years; and Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, an ex-member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Introduction
Love it or hate it, the BBC is perhaps the most powerful media institution in the world. Not even the Murdoch empire in its heyday matched the scale and impact of the BBC's operations. Yet, in the last week, it has suffered two embarrassing setbacks in the aftermath of which its funders, the British public, are entitled to a change of policy.
A group of illegal Jewish settlers, accompanied by an Israeli government minister and a number of members of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), broke into the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque on Thursday morning, 17 May, amid a state of alert and while being heavily guarded by Israeli occupation forces.
A poll conducted by the BBC World Service has ranked Israel in third place among the worst countries in the world, keeping company with North Korea and only just ahead of Iran and Pakistan.
