A military general defended state TV's coverage of the Maspero violence that killed at least 25 people Sunday during a Supreme Council of the Armed Forces press conference Wednesday.
Major General Ismail Etman told journalists not to report on his statements as he praised state TV, which was widely criticized for urging viewers to protect the military from Coptic protesters.
Many eyewitnesses, including an Al-Masry Al-Youm journalist, reported that the military fired on Coptic protesters and mowed them down with armored vehicles as they demonstrated in response to an Aswan church attack.
"State TV was covering the events live and there were other channels doing the same. If state TV didn't portray the truth we would have accused it of falsifying facts," Etman said as journalists gathered for the press conference in Nasr City.
Etman, who heads the military's Morale Affairs Department, went on to say that state TV broadcast all of the events as they happened.
"This is a word of truth: we don't have any influence on state coverage. We don't tell them what to cover and what not to cover. We don't oppress opinions. The media is not politicized or militarized."
