State Information Service headquarters, Cairo

The State Information Service is an

Egyptian government The politics of Egypt are based on republicanism, with a semi-presidential system of government. The current political system was established following the 2013 Egyptian military coup d'état, and the takeover of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. ...

agency affiliated to the Egyptian Presidency. It is the official media and public relations apparatus of the Egyptian state, with a number of local and international offices, and its responsible for regulating the affairs of foreign press and media correspondents in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

History

The SIS was founded in 1954 as the Information Authority (''maslahat al-isti'lamat'', Arabic: مصلحة الإستعلامات) by the Revolutionary Command Council in the eve of the republican era, two years after the Free Officers led by

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-r ...

toppled King

Farouk Farooq (also transliterated as Farouk, Faruqi, Farook, Faruk, Faroeq, Faruq, or Farouq, Farooqi, Faruque or Farooqui; ar, فاروق, Fārūq) is a common Arabic given and family name. ''Al-Fārūq'' literally means "the one who distinguishes b ...

and abolished the Monarchy. Revolutionary Command Council member Salah Salem was SIS's first Chairman. In 1967 it was restructured into the State Information Service (SIS) and affiliated to the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry ...

(''wizarat al-irshad al-qawmi'', lit. Ministry of National Guidance), during

Tharwat Okasha Tharwat Okasha (Also spelt Sarwat Okasha, ar, ثروت عكاشة; 1921–27 February 2012) was an Egyptian writer, translator and influential minister of culture during the Nasserite era, and is known as the "founder of Egypt's cultural institu ...

's tenure, and given the mandate of supporting the ministry in "identifying local and international

public opinion Public opinion is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to a society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them. Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French ', which was first use ...

towards issues and events that concern the state, and in the field of guiding, educating and enlightening local public opinion." The SIS was given ten main responsibilities, including guaging public opinion, producing and disseminating media on national issues (pamphlets, books, radio and television programs) to influence local and global public opinion, producing regular briefs for high level government agencies on key local and international political issues, regulating foreign journalism in Egypt, and regulating aspects of local journalism overseen by the ministry of culture. In September 2012 President

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012ministry of information.

Chairpersons

The SIS has had chairmen that served at high levels of government in the defense, information or foreign affairs ministries, as well as intelligence. The current Chairman of SIS, Diaa Rashwan a journalist and head of the Press Syndicate, he was appointed to the post by president

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mi ...

in June 2017. Among the previous Chairmen of SIS was

Safwat El-Sherif Mohamed Safwat El Sherif ( ar, محمد صفوت الشريف; 19 December 1933 – 13 January 2021) was an Egyptian politician who served as chairman of the State Information Service, minister of information, speaker of the Egyptian Shura Cou ...

one of the leading and controversial figures in deposed president Hosni Mubarak's government. * Salah Salem (1954 - 1955) * Amin Howeidi (1965 - 1966) *

Ahmed Asmat Abdel-Meguid Ahmed Asmat Abdel-Meguid ( ar, أحمد عصمت عبد المجيد‎; 22 March 1923– 21 December 2013) was an Egyptian diplomat. He served as the Foreign Minister of Egypt between 1984 and 1991, and as the Secretary-General of the Arab L ...

(1967 - 1967) *Mohamed Hassan al-Zayat (1967 — 1972) *Mohamed Hassan al-Zayat (1972 — 1977, In addition to Minister of Indormation) *Morsi Saad Eldin Abdel Hamid (1977 — 1979, also presidential spokesperson) *

(1979 - 1980) *Mohamed Hakki (1980 — 1982, also presidential spokesperson) *Mamdouh El Beltagui (1983 - 1993) *Nabil Othman (1994 - 2003) *Taha Abdel Alim (2003 - 2004) * Nasser Kamel (2005 - 2006) * Diaa Rashwan (2017 - present)

International offices

Presidential Decree 1820/1967 mandated SIS to establish an international presence to share and disseninate facts about Egypt. Today, SIS operates 32 international press offices affiliate to Egypt's consular missions. *Berlin *London *Paris *Washington D.C.

References

{{egypt-gov-stub Government agencies of Egypt