The head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), Safaa Hegazy, has dismissed Mostafa Shehata, head of state television's news department for mistakenly broadcasting an old interview with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi instead of a new interview recorded this week.
In sacking Shehata on Tuesday, the ERTU ordered his deputy Khaled Mehany to take his place until a new chief is appointed.
The ERTU apologized for it's huge mistake in airing an interview with Sisi made last year with the US-based PBS correspondent Margaret Warner, which was recorded last year on the occasion of the 70th United Nations General Assembly.
A new interview, recorded by PBS on Monday, should have been broadcast instead, on the occasion of the 71st UN General Assembly, which Sisi is attending in New York.
Shehata said the mistake was made due to a "change in shifts". He blamed the mistake on Nehal Aref, the person in charge of co-ordination, who has been suspended and questioned.
“State TV is not airing Sisi’s speech at the UN. It broadcasts it via the websites of the satellite channels that air the General Assembly events. The interview was aired by mistake after accessing the PBS website,” he added.
The mix-up has stirred anger among social media users.
Nehal Rizq, media officer at the US embassy in Cairo, posted on Facebook saying, “What a loss. It’s a scandal that you air the president’s interview with Margaret Warner of last year as if it’s the new interview made yesterday with Charlie Rose.”
She added,“The problem is that other websites took it from the Egyptian TV, making the scandal more complicated.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
