Sit-ins outside Cairo’s Maspero building Muslim Brotherhood officials are attempting to patch up differences with media institutions in Egypt, party officials have claimed. According to Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan, a delegation of media workers will visit press institutions and personalities “to discuss [how] to help support media work and improve professional performance to the highest standards.”
"This is a measure of our determination and resolve to communicate with the media, clarify the picture and highlight the group’s positions, and also to remove any obstacles to obtaining accurate information,” he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was committed to “build bridges” with the media “for the good of Egypt, its people and its renaissance,” Ghozlan added.
Delegates will included columnist and Journalists’ Syndicate chief Mohamed Abdul Quddus, media adviser to the Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Murad Ali and spokesmen Ahmed Aref, Yasser Mehrez and Gihad al-Haddad.
Egypt’s media scene has grown increasingly fractious since the 2011 uprising which ousted former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Many criticise the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for perceived attacks on the press, which have seen official and civil cases brought against Bassem Youssef and Dina Abdel Fatah for allegedly insulting Islam and the president.
Workers at Egypt’s leading state media institution at Maspero have also led a wave of strikes, calling for less government interference and better pay and conditions.