The British weekly newspaper The Economist published on June 16, 2023, on its website, a negative report on some of conditions in Egypt, including several inaccuracies and lies, in an approach that lacks most professional global media standards.
In response to this report and the inaccuracies it contains, the State Information Service (SIS) decided to summon the correspondent of “The Economist” in Egypt to hand him a letter of protest against the contents of the report, demanding the newspaper to be objective and impartial, in order to conform to journalism ethics when dealing with Egypt’s affairs, and to consider the opinion of the authorities concerned to ensure that it covers all opinions and points of views, in compliance with rules.
The SIS issued a statement refuting the fallacies and allegations contained in the report.
The SIS statement said: “The Economist report violated all rules and ethics of journalism and included repeated uncorroborated sayings and slinging accusations, relying on a number of sources that are all unknown, in addition to publishing erroneous figures and incorrect data without citing any credible source, in addition to other allegations and misinformation that indicate a lack of knowledge about what is happening in Egypt at the political, economic, social and cultural levels”.
The SIS statement said: “One of the most important rules of the journalistic profession is the necessity of mentioning the sources from which the reporter or the writer draws information, especially when reporting facts, data or opinions, as well as being keen to consider the opinion and position of all parties to the issue to impartially cover all points of view”.
In flagrant violation of the aforementioned rules, The Economist report is considered partial, biased, offensive and a deliberate distortion. It does not contact any Egyptian party to verify the data and information the report contained before publishing it.
In addition, the report cites (13) sources, of whom 12 are completely unknown, for uncorroborated information and opinions it contained.
Regarding figures included in the report, the SIS statement said: In an economic newspaper, like The Economist, figures and proportions are of great importance, and shall be subject to strict controls to investigate accuracy.
This was contradicted in the report, which elaborated on listing economic figures and data without controls and without citing any source, including the claim that rate of food inflation in Egypt is 60 per cent, without citing any source to back up this allegation, although official data of monthly and yearly core and general inflation in Egypt is always announced.
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