22/2/2014

The frenzied criticism of the Egyptian government seen in the foreign press makes me wonder: why is our foreign-language media not reacting to any of this.

The State Information Service (SIS), now affiliated with the presidency instead of the Ministry of Information, is also supposed to speak up. If there is a professional reason for the SIS to be part of the presidency, it is one that I am unable to fathom.

Information emanating from the Egyptian government can best be handled by people in the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Foreign affairs. It is because of the SIS failing to play its proper role that Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy is spending a considerable amount of effort and time responding to the international media and talking to CNN, BBC and other networks.

I spent many years working for Egypt’s foreign-language media in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, and I am more than puzzled by our choice of media advisers abroad. They are without proven track records, and do not seem to be helping the country at this crucial juncture.

Where are he true experts we used to have to react to foreign press, people such as Mohamed Haqi, Mohammed Wahby, Mohammed Rahmi in the US, and Dr. Mamdouh El Beltagi in France – not to mention Dr. Morsy Saad Eddin, who was head of SIS in the seventies.

translated from Al Ahram