Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Saturday decided to sack state television and radio officials who were accused of conducting smear campaigns against protesters and inciting murder during Egypt's 25 January revolution that ended with the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak on 11 February.
Sharaf appointed Ibrahim Kamal al-Saeed as head of Egyptian TV’s newsroom in place of Abdel Latif al-Manawy, who was criticized sharply by the public for broadcasting programs and interviews that accused anti-Mubarak protesters of receiving funds from abroad and having relations with foreign intelligence agencies. In his programs, Al-Manawy neglected to report incidents of thugs assaulting anti-Mubarak protesters.
Sharaf also appointed Nihal Kamal as head of State TV and Ismail al-Shishtawy al-Iraqi as head of State Radio. Some media figures criticized Sharaf's decisions and said that they do not represent real reform.
Since al-Manawy, Kamal, and al-Iraqi have served the former regime, some criticized the decisions for failing to bring new faces to state media. Also, some complain that they were not appointed for their abilities, but rather because the dissolved State Security Investigative Services had approved their appointments. Salah Saber, a producer at State TV, observes that similar criticisms were directed at the government following appointments of new state newspaper heads, who are accused of having had ties with the former regime.
