Essam El Amir: "MBC: Apologise or Shut Down"

The head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, Essam El Amir, filed a legal complaint against Saudi-owned MBC’s attack on Egyptian television, which led to an uproar by Maspiro sons. The production team behind “Asaad Allah Masa2akom” ran a 10 minute segment which includes a satirical song mocking the state of Egyptian television today, and took to the streets and asked people if they watch Egyptian TV, only to receive negative feedback from many.

El Amir stated, “In a time when we are attempting to maintain Egyptian-Saudi relations, bitter sarcasm and irony are expressed, bypassing all ethical standards. We are expecting a public apology from MBC, denouncing the incident and deeming it an unprofessional and inexcusable act full of question marks.”

Brashly threatening MBC, El Amir claims that, as a member of the governing council, his complaint will be forwarded to Media Free Zone. “I would like to ask those running the channel, how many employees depend on MBC and are you willing to let them go?”

El Amir also condemned the use of 20-year-old debatable topics in the episode, which belonged to a certain period of time that he says are irrelevant in today’s world.

“No one can deny the role of Egyptian media in Middle Eastern education, and its long-standing survival for 55 years, whereas broadcasting has been around for 81 years, initiating the use of radio across the region so I doubt anything that happened in this episode would please our brothers in Saudi Arabia who are responsible for the channel.”

Photo Credits: bbc.com