Without Mubarak, Egypt State TV Switches Sides

[cal04]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/12/business/AP-ML-Egypt-State-Media.html?hp

Egypt's state and pro-government media have abruptly changed their tune.

Faithful mouthpieces of Hosni Mubarak's regime until the end, they now celebrate the ouster of the longtime Egyptian president — and pledge to be more attentive to ordinary Egyptians. State TV even promised to be more truthful in its reporting.

During the 18-day uprising, state TV and pro-Mubarak newspapers portrayed the hundreds of thousands of protesters as a minority of troublemakers. While raucous protests raged in downtown Cairo, state-run Al-Nil TV showed serene videos of the Nile River.

But on Saturday, a day after Mubarak's resignation, the message had been turned upside down.

[kenny blankenship]

1. No one put a gun to their heads and made them come in to work

Once they were there, they had to follow the govt script. But the example of Nile TV reporters who quit shows that no one was coerced to be there.

No one who confesses that they "told lies" for the Mubarak govt should be trusted again just because they admit what everyone already knows.

[Swede]

I believe many were under threat to their families.

I say wipe the slate clean and start again.

[NutmegYankee]

5. People will do terrible things to ensure their family is fed.

No one held a gun to their head, but they were not completely free to just up and quit without major hardship. This is human nature like or not. I'd give them a chance to prove themselves rather than make them into enemies.

[Matariki]

2. Right. Until they see which way the money lands.

[DJ13]

3. I wish we could force our MSM to start telling the truth

[mmonk]

4. Yep. They need to switch too.