Foreign Ministry continues spat with NYT over coverage of tourist killings

The spat between spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the New York Times continued, as the ministry called the paper’s coverage of the killing of eight Mexican tourists in the Western Desert “misleading and untrue.” 

“The NYT’s repeated and deliberate insistence on distorting events in Egypt reflects blatant disregard for the will of Egyptian people,” spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said in the letter ran by the Middle East News Agency, privately owned Al-Shorouk reported. 

On Sunday, a mistaken military airstrike on a convoy of Mexican tourists in the Western Desert killed 12 people, including 8 Mexicans and injured 10. Egyptian officials claimed that the convoy of four cars had trespassed into a restricted area, leading the military to confuse them with terrorists. 

A media gag was ordered by the prosecutor until the announcement of the results of the official investigation into the incident. An opinion piece by the NYT’s Editorial Board titled “What went wrong in Egypt?,” argued that the incident “should never have happened,” and that it’s “no surprise that the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former army chief of staff who toppled Egypt’s first democratically elected president in a coup in 2013, would try to shift the blame for the shooting.”

In response, Abu Zeid criticized “what has become a habit for the newspaper as of lately,” for "claiming that full accountability following the ongoing official investigation is unfortunately unexpected, in light of Sisi’s closed off and oppressive government.”

“The editorial staff deliberately ignored the fact that Egypt has already started an impartial and highly credible investigative process three days ago,” he added, “Their stance is by no means surprising since we’re used to their biased and non-objective coverage.” 

Abu Zeid gave NYT a lesson in journalistic ethics, citing "commitment to conveying the truth, instead of publishing judgments and baseless accusations" as mandates for professionalism. 

He also accused them of “intentionally misrepresenting the letter Egyptian Foreign Minister had addressed to Mexican people.”

The stand-off between the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and NYT started last month over a piece written by David Kirkpatrick, the New York Times’ Cairo Bureau Chief and Mideast Correspondent.

Abu Zeid questioned the credibility of the newspaper via Twitter, for publishing a story on Mohamed Soltan, an Egyptian-US citizen who was recently released and sent back to the US after about two years of solitary confinement and 490 days on hunger strike.

Abu Zeid called the article “one-sided,” adding that “It's unacceptable and unreasonable for [Kirkpatrick] to ask for info hours before publication, one night before weekend, and expect a timely response.” 

Moreover, the Press Center at the State Information Service (SIS) issued a statement stipulating a week’s notice for any requests or queries by journalists before publication. Immediate backlash on social media led them to issuing another statement, clarifying that a week’s notice would only be required to request an interview with “one of the representatives of the official authorities.”