Egypt's information minister met on Monday morning with Pope Shenouda III and vowed to investigate state TV coverage of the clashes during a Coptic protest outside the state TV building on 9 October.
During the meeting at St. Mark's Cathedral in Abbasseya, Information Minister Osama Heikal offered his condolences over the deaths. The violence left at least 27 civilians dead and more than 300 wounded.
However, Al-Ahram newspaper had earlier quoted him as saying he did not need to apologize for state media coverage of the events after a government-appointed committee released a report saying state TV did not incite the violence.
The meeting lasted more than an hour, during which Heikal and Shenouda discussed state TV coverage. After the meeting, Heikal told reporters that errors made by state TV were the result of 40 years of corruption and promised an internal investigation.
“I will not allow state television to discriminate between citizens during its coverage of events,” said Heikal. “State television in no way meant to offend the Copts.”
Heikal acknowledged feelings Copts might have about the events.
“I am sure there is sadness among Copts over state television’s coverage of the events, and I appreciate their feelings, however, the event affected the performance of the employees in the building,” said Heikal.
He said he was working on developing the skills of Egyptian Radio and Television Union employees to improve state media standards.
Meanwhile, Bishop Youanis, the pope's secretary, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that Heikal “offered his condolences over our martyrs who died during the Maspero events and expressed his dismay over the tragic incident."
“The pope spoke to him about the mistakes made by state television and its biased coverage of the events,” said Youanis. “The minister apologized for the mistake and confirmed the formation of a committee to investigate the mistakes.”
The cathedral held funeral services on Monday afternoon for the 27th civilian victim of the Maspero violence, Magdy Fahim, who died of a cerebral hemorrhage resulting from being run over, according to his medical report.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
