God,
Journalism is a difficult job, largely dependent on the conscience of the journalist. But not far removed is the outlet that pays the bills. Equidistant is the government which grants the credentials.
For all plying this trade in Egypt, God, give them grace, courage, humility, and discernment. Show them what stories to tell. Find them their credible sources. Fit all context into too brief reports. Help them help the world understand.
There is never one narrative, but ever a clamoring for it. The more insistence on a single storyline, the more resistance both issued and received.
And currently, al-Jazeera is in the crosshairs of both. The network challenges the government straight on, and its reporters have found themselves in jail.
Protect the free press, God, and keep the press free. Free from agenda, free from manipulation, free from the politics that birth many narratives. Help them tell the story, and get the facts right.
Free to expose, free to commend, free to hold all stakeholders accountable. Give government wisdom to encourage their work, knowing the curb on corruption comes best from outside. May it respect its people sufficiently to be transparent with them.
Grant this transparency, God, with respect to the Jazeera team. Journalism can clarify, but it can also obscure. Information is power, and journalists are gatekeepers. What keeps them the tendency to corruption but a monitoring presence?
This is the ideal, God, but bring it to Egypt. Give a fair trial to those in prison. Give fair coverage to those in the newsroom. Give fair oversight in fair space to operate.
Give Egypt and the world understanding on what is happening in the nation. However different the narrative, may both government and journalism tell the truth. May the conscience of all be pure.
Amen.
Jayson Casper 