For the third day in a row, there has been a protest before the Egyptian Radio and TV Union (ERTU) in protest against the plan on developing the first and second terrestrial channels and the Egyptian satellite channel. For his part, Minister of Information Anas al-Fiqi said the development plan will continue, but he will dismiss the ERTU personnel who will have "priority" in participating in this development.
The protesters chanted anti-government slogans. MPs Mustafa Bakri and Gamal Zahran tried to calm the demonstrators and present their demands to al-Fiqi. "We do not want to achieve all the demands by 100%, but if 60% were met, this would be a great achievement for you and for us as MPs," Bakri said.
Gamila Ismail, wife of Ghad Party leader Ayman Nour and former announcer in channel 1, has sent an SMS to ERTU personnel, al-Fiqi and members of the culture and information committees of the People's Assembly (PA) and the Shura Council calling on them to take part in the protest.
On a related level, al-Fiqi has held two meetings with a number of directors and program presenters. He told them that these steps are "just a beginning" and that the process of development and the addition of new programs are "continuing". Minister al-Fiqi added that ERTU will seek the help of expertise from outside "within the narrowest limits" and "in urgent cases". The PA Committee on Culture and Information will hold a meeting today to discuss the crisis. The committee sent an invitation to al-Fiqi to attend the meeting and present his proposals of ending the crisis.
Al-Masry Al-Youm has learnt that it was falsely claimed that a number of announcers, including Nehal Kamal and Umnia Makram, took part in the protest. Makram told the daily that she did not partake in the protest.
