Egypt to Media: Don't You Dare Distort Our War on TerrorPosted By David Kenner Sunday, August 18, 2013 - 6:32 AM Share
CAIRO -- As the confrontation between Egypt's government and supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsy heats up, Cairo's new rulers have a new target for criticism -- the foreign press corps.
Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) released a statement Saturday criticizing some foreign correspondents for "steer[ing] away from objectivity and neutrality," which resulted in them communicating "a distorted image" of events in Egypt to their audiences.
"Egypt is feeling severe bitterness towards some Western media coverage that is biased to the Muslim Brotherhood and ignores shedding light on violent and terror acts that are perpetrated by this group," the statement read. The SIS laid out seven ways in which international coverage of Egypt was lacking. In addition to ignoring the Brotherhood's "thuggery and sabotage," the statement said, some media "are still falling short of describing the [anti-Morsy protests] of June 30 as an expression of a popular will." The Egyptian government, in other words, objects to international coverage describing Morsy's ouster as a military coup.
The statement also accused foreign press of ignoring the support that the Muslim Brotherhood is allegedly drawing from foreigners and jihadists. It accused the media of "completely ignor[ing]" that the Brotherhood had sought support from al Qaeda elements, alleging that five vehicles flying the Islamist "black flag" and armed with automatic weapons had driven into Cairo's Ramses Square during pro-Morsy protests there on Friday. "[The foreign press] also ignored making reference to the participation of non-Egyptian elements from Pakistan, Syria and Palestine in violent acts committed by the Brotherhood," the statement read.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/18/egypt_to_foreign_journalists_shape_up
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