What the Press Says about the Adham Center

Faculty, staff, students and alumni of the Adham Center (founded 1987) should feel proud, as Center events have been covered massively in the press throughout the past year.

Al Ahram Weekly's gossip column "Pack of Cards," for instance, didn't miss even one. Madame Sosostris, the "Pack's" redoubtable dealer, wrote in one issue, "On to the world of media. Zafar Siddiqi, chairman and chief executive officer of CNBC Arabiya, was recently honored at the Annual Awards Dinner organized by the American University in Cairo's Adham Center for Television Journalism."

The same event was covered in a number of newspapers and magazines. "Abdallah Schleifer . . . a Pioneer in Television Journalism" was the headline of Louis Greiss's article in Al Ra'y newspaper. Greiss provided his readers with an impressive description of the event, which he attends annually. He ended his piece by saying, "History will remember Abdallah Schleifer as a founder of television journalism education in Egypt."

The Adham Center director was both a frequent interviewer and interviewee in the press, especially during the war on in Iraq. In Digital Studio magazine, Schleifer interviewed Mohammed Jasim Al Ali, chief executive of Al Jazeera, the controversial Arab satellite channel in his last interview before his resignation.

Recent Center graduates had their share of the limelight too. Mohammed El Abadi interviewed four of 2003 Adham center's graduates-Badiaa Abou Khadra, Dina El- Guindy, Nada El Mesallawy, Lubna El Elaimy-for Satellite magazine, where they discussed their experience at the Adham Center and spoke about their dreams and the job offers from CNBC they are about to accept.

Moving from success to success, the Sony Gallery for Photography's outstanding exhibitions contributed to the frequent presence of the Adham Center in the news. Exhibitions dealing with vital political issues, such as "Palestine-Women and Children First," "Baghdad before the Bombs Begin to Fall," and "War in Iraq"-clearly proved that the Sony Gallery is the only gallery dedicated to photojournalism in Egypt, if not the whole Arab region. The gallery's hosting of Amr Nabil's photographs under the theme "Baghdad before the Bombs Begin to Fall" was covered by local, national, and international newspapers. Al Ahram Weekly dedicated almost a quarter of a page to one of these, which they found very expressive and powerful. The photograph's caption stated, "Baghdad before the Bombs Begin to Fall continues at the Sony Gallery until 8 May. An exhibition of photographs by Amr Nabil, the show comprises images of the city's inhabitants going about their everyday lives when it was possible to think such lives could exist in the city." The most widely read newspaper Al Akhbar also covered the news about this year's exhibitions, with a news item about John Tordai's exhibition "Palestine-Women and Children First" on the newspaper's second page.

The current achievements of the Adham Center's faculty, staff, and alumni and of the Sony Gallery seem likely to ensure that the coming year will carry more news of the Center and more recognition of its achievements on both local and international levels.

By Assya Yassin