The Free to speak debate from Cairo is on the topic Is new media the only truly independent media in the Arab world today?


Listen to part one of the debate from Cairo

 Listen to part two of the debate from Cairo


Bloggers are increasingly being targeted as part of a crackdown on independent media in Egypt.

One blogger says that state-run media now portrays blogging as "cyber-dissent" or "cyber-terrorism". Is this description correct or is it just an independent form of activism?

How are new technologies being used by independent voices? And to what extent is new media bringing new freedoms to the Middle East?

• Hossam El Hamalawy, a prominent Egyptian blogger


• Rabab El Mahdi, professor of Political Science at AUC


• Dr Nadia Hegazy, senior expert on international relations, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology


• Abdallah Schleifer is Professor Emeritus of journalism at American University in Cairo and a veteran journalist who's covered the Middle East for more than 30 years