Government-owned newspapers in Egypt used to be the most widely read papers by far. They are still very popular. But there are numorous indepedent papers as well.
The former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was careful to keep a tight grip on how government-owned newspapers reported the news. That changed a lot after Mubarak was ousted early last year. But now that Egypt has a new president from the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood, some fear a return to the bad old days of strict state control over national newspapers.