CAIRO - A plethora of private television talk shows were born hours after the eruption of the Egyptian revolution of January 25. Their wealthy owners, who had strong connections with Mubarak and his corrupt cronies, claimed that their media projects would be a voice for the agitated young people camping in Tahrir Square and elsewhere across Egypt. These talk shows were marketed as platforms for young revolutionaries to come forward and describe their vision for the future of the motherland. The people watching these private talk shows were persuaded that their owners were sincere about getting them to reveal their revolutionary intentions. These talk shows soon started screening huge commercials during ‘breaks' in their programmes. While the nation's economy has suffered huge losses, because of the endless demonstrations and workers' strikes, these television talk shows have been making pots of cash. Their enormous profits are growing ever more enormous as the mass demonstrations and workers' strikes become more violent. The owners and senior anchors of private talk shows are happy about the high death toll in the demonstrations in Tahrir and elsewhere in Egypt. More violence means more viewers, more time allocated to commercial breaks and even bigger profits for these shows at the end of the day. These TV talk shows choose their guests from among people who are popular in society. But the shows cruelly exploit the sufferings and sadness of grief-stricken families, who have lost their loved ones in demonstrations calling for freedom, social justice and dignity. None of the huge profits made by the owners of these private talk shows are used to help comfort these grieving families.
