Nile News TV host Tamer Hanfy was suspended from work in TV last week before returning back on air last Friday because of what I may consider professionalism and freedom of expression.
Tamer Hanfy criticized both the SCAF and the TV management’s intervention in news coverage on air in the intro of his show. Of course due to the fact the Nile News channel does not have a high viewership unlike other channels because of its bad record in the past we have missed this intro.
Hanfy criticized why he and the channel were not let to cover the Pro-Mubarak protest in front of the ERTVU building last week. There pro-Mubarak protest there last week , it was a small protest yet it managed to paralyze the traffic for several hours one. Strangely Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr along other private Egyptian channels covered the protest and showed us the other side of the coin : The Mubarak supporters who do not want to be prosecuted , who are attacking the revolutionaries and the SCAF proudly and rudely.
Later Hanfy found himself suspended for further notice but he returned back. He accused the Egyptian TV management of using the SCAF in order to force their own censorship , he believes this censorship has got nothing to do with the SCAF which is bigger than this. Of course some may disagree with Hanfy.
I do not see a reason why Hanfy would not be allowed to do his job and cover the protest outside his work or a reason why he would be suspended.
Hanfy was the Nile News correspondent in Israel and in the Palestinian occupied territories. He made couple of interesting and beautiful documentaries about the Jewish sects in Israel and also about Palestine. One of his documentaries specifically about the Samaritan sect was awarded in some Arab media conference.
For the record the Nile News and the News sector in Egypt made excellent documentaries despite the limited sources allowed to them and the huge censorship forced from the Mubarak regime. This is just a side note I have to say.
I believe in freedom of expression and also media professionalism , this is why I think Hanfy was right in what he has done regardless of my view about the pro-Mubarak protests. Already I would have gone and filmed the Pro-Mubarak protesters to understand their logic if I had had but of course after watching their interviews , I thank God that I did not because I would have lost my temper with them.
Already this stupid action by the TV management proves that currently there is prosecution the poor pro-Mubarak supporters from the bad revolutionaries and the ungrateful SCAF , in new Egypt everybody has the right to express himself in peaceful way and the media has to cover it equally. Just look to that Facebook page made by the Mubarak supporters in solidarity with Hanfy. To be fair I believe many activists did not know about his incident because if they did , they would stand with him for the sake of professionalism and freedom of expression.
اؤيدك في انه له كل الحق بغض النظر عن موافقتنا اياه من عدمه .. علينا في المرحلةالحالية الا نكرر ما عانينا منه سابقا من حجر على اي راي
ReplyDeletesaw this guy interview tharwat badawy and he was extremely incompetent and unprofessional. check it out.
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