Advanced Television

ERTU boss replaced

April 25, 2016

By Chris Forrester

Egypt’s giant public broadcaster, the Egyptian Radio & Television Union (ERTU), has seen its controversial chairman/director general Essam El-Amir “relieved” of his duties.

Egypt’s prime minister Sherif Ismael made the decision according to the Egyptian cabinet’s official spokesman Hossam El-Kawish. The report was confirmed by Egypt’s semi-official newspaper Al Ahram.

The new DG is Safa Hagazy, who had been running ERTU’s news division.

Essam El-Amir has been something of a critic of the then new Egyptian government led by President Morsi. He resigned in protest at then changes back in 2012, but was later reinstated. Local reports suggest that the changes come about because of too much anti-state coverage.

The past few weeks have seen the ERTU mired in controversy, notably with El-Amir on March 22nd being highly critical of one of its Channel 3 news anchors, Azza El-Hennawy, and alleging that she had committed serious professional violations during her weekly news show, Cairo News, on Channel 3.

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