Cairo: Egypt’s celebrated TV anchorwoman, Reem Majed, a critic of the government of President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, has accused authorities of stopping its show only two weeks after it hit the airwaves.
Private TV station ONTV this week did not broadcast the third episode of Majed’s “A Female Plural”, a programme co-produced with the Arabic service of German TV Deutsche Welle.
The Egyptian broadcaster denied that the programme, which made its debut on May 2, has been axed, saying it was temporarily suspended as part of a plan to restructure the “map of the programmes” to increase their viewing rates.
“The station has already halted some other programmes in recent months as part of this restricting,” ONTV said in a statement.
Majed said that the show had been stopped under pressure from what she described as “influential bodies”, a term in Egypt referring to top security agencies.
“I have been officially informed by the channel that my programme was halted after intervention from influential bodies,” Majed told the privately owned broadcaster Al Naher. “I am now deprived of working at any Egyptian channel. He who stopped my programme has to come forward and give an explanation.”
Prime Minister Ebrahim Mehleb denied his government was involved in halting the show. “Media in Egypt is free as long as it abides by accepted professional rules,” Mehleb said.
Deutsche Welle has said it will continue to air Majed’s show, denouncing what it called Egyptian authorities’ interference to stop its broadcasting on the Egyptian TV partner.
“A Female Plural”, which features interviews with career women, marked Majed’s return to TV after a hiatus of more than a year.
Majed stopped her TV appearances in mid-2013 after the army, led at the time by Al Sissi, deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following enormous street protests against his one-year rule.
Majed has since criticized the detention of secular activists, who led the 2011 uprising against long-time president Husny Mubarak.
Several anti-Mubarak campaigners are serving jail terms for holding unauthorized protests under a 2013 controversial law.
