Cairo: Editors of Egypt's oldest Arabic-language daily newspaper, Al Ahram, have apparently disgraced their semi-official publication by carrying a doctored photo showing President Hosni Mubarak leading other Middle East leaders and US President Barack Obama during the relaunch of Palestinian-Israeli talks in Washington earlier this month.
"This is definitely a professional fraud," said Fouad Saleh, a media professor at the provincial University of Benha.
"Apparently the one who ordered this manipulation sought to fawn on the presidential establishment. But in the process of this cheap hypocrisy, he underestimated the image and 132-year-old history of Al Ahram," he told Gulf News.
Trailing behind
The photo was printed in the Tuesday edition of Al Ahram, widely circulated newspaper in Egypt, showing Mubarak walking on a red carpet ahead of Obama as well as the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders. The second round of direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks was held in Sharm Al Shaikh on Tuesday.
The original image, taken at the White House when talks were relaunched on September 2, shows Obama leading the way and Mubarak, 82, trailing behind.
Several officials at Al Ahram, contacted by Gulf News on Thursday, declined to comment. "The issue is in the hands of the Chief Editor [Osama Serai]," said a desk editor, who asked not to be named.
"The position of President Mubarak is not affected by a photo or a title," said Sami Aziz, the dean of the Cairo University Mass Communication Faculty and member of Mubarak's ruling party. "The role of President Mubarak in advancing the Palestinian problem is not enhanced by a portrait in a public square or a full-page picture in a newspaper."
