Shahira Amin, presenter of “Hot Seat” on Nile TV, saw her show cancelled after comments she made were deemed an “incitement against the authority.”
The presenter had previously resigned during the 25 January Revolution because of “biased” media coverage of Tahrir Square, only to return as a host of a weekly interview show in May 2011.
Amin was hosted on CNN on 7 July to shed light on the conditions post the Mohamed Morsi ouster; she explained that “30 June is increasingly looking like a coup; revolutionary youth say that it is a rebellion by the people…they were very frustrated with ex-President Morsi’s performance, the dire economic conditions, the lack of security [and] the high inflation. However, I believe that the movement was very much driven by the deep state…I mean the Mubarak loyalists, intelligence police and the military.”
According to Amin, “these comments are the main reason behind the show being put off air,” labeling it as “a slide back to Mubarak days where state line was adopted by all channels.”
“I was reporting both sides of the story, and the current rhetoric is if you’re objectively reporting, you’re a Muslim brotherhood loyalist; this is against everything we were taught as journalists,” Amin stated.
Amin explained that although she had various career opportunities after resigning in 2011, she decided to stick with state television as it is important to have “a local voice to hold the authorities accountable and to challenge them.”
According to Amin, the Minister of Information is currently investigating the incident as a number of her colleagues have filed a complaint against the incident.
She explained that the decision did not come from a higher authority, but came from within the state television administration at Maspero. She has not been summoned to the Prosecutor General’s office.
Former deputy head of Nile TV English explained that “one of the 25 January [revolution’s] goals was objectivity of the media,” and that “she only accepted returning to state television after she was given control of the content and not told what to air.”
Maspero were not available for comment.
