SIS condemns BBC, Reuters coverage of Wahat clashes

Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) has condemned the coverage of BBC and Reuters of the Al-Wahat clashes that took place Friday and are still going on. 

"In view of the war Egypt is fighting in defense of its people and the peoples of the world against the bloody terrorism which is hitting everywhere, both Reuters and BBC published that 52 policemen were killed; including 23 officers according to Reuters, and 18 according to BBC based on unidentified security sources," the SIS said in a statement. 

It added: "the two media outlets relied on what they called unidentified security sources, and did not wait or resort to official security authorities to get correct information."

"This is in contradiction with the internationally acknowledged professional rules in covering terrorist operations, as their security confrontation necessitates waiting for sometime till official information on the results are declared," the body added.

It accused the two media outlets of manipulating the first official statement of the Ministry of Interior, which described the elements that killed and injured the policemen as terrorist elements. 

"BBC Arabic added while quoting the Ministry of Interior the following sentence: "the elements that it (Ministry of Interior) described as terrorist", which represents a manipulation of the quoting that holds the person who mentions it responsible," the SIS pointed out.

"This indicates, on the other side, that BBC Arabic does not approve describing these criminal elements as terrorists. BBC "English" and Reuters "English" exchanged the term "terrorists", which is only accurate and realistic description of those elements, with the term "militants", a matter that may give a positive connotation to the reader," it noted.

It called on BBC, Reuters and other media outlets that relied on what they called their "own sources" to deny the published number of the victims, confirm the official figures, apologize for the inaccuracy of this information and their sources. 

In case they could confirm their figures, which we confirm that they are absolutely wrong, the BBC and Reuters have to publish the names of this big number of the alleged victims, it said.

Source: MENA