Fatma Nabil: I did not resign for personal gain

Fatma Nabil, known as the first Egyptian female news anchor to appear on state television wearing a headscarf, announced that she resigned from Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, in protest of the channel describing recent events in Egypt as a military coup. Nabil said she has received several job offers from Egyptian satellite channels such as CBC, Dream and al-Kahera Wal Nas, however she is studying the offers, since she is still technically on unpaid leave from Egyptian state TV. In an exclusive interview with Egypt Today, Nabil said that her resignation from Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr was not to gain personal gain or to seek attention but due to what she felt was the channel showing favouritism towards Islamists and the Muslim Brotherhood. She explained that the channel’s instructed its crew to support the Islamist groups in Egypt, particularly after June 30, as the channel’s management “tried to falsify facts in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.” The Egyptian anchor accused Al Jazeera of trying to misrepresent the news, disregarding what is happening on the ground, which prompted her and most of her colleagues to resign from the channel. Nabil stressed the need of being objective and avoiding any bias, since the ongoing events in Egypt require presenting the news impartially.