State TV's Mea Culpa

EGYPT STATE TV PALACE

by Chris Bodenner

Scott Lucas captions the above screenshot:

1530 GMT: Egypt State TV is speaking live with anti-Mubarak protesters surrounding the State TV building. A Nile TV anchor tells a protester on phone: "We fell into a trap" and were given misinformation in the first few days. Another anchor declares, "We want to reach a common ground for dialogue. We admit mistakes."

1530 GMT: Al Jazeera English says that only about 15 people are at State TV staffing the channel.

Signs of a shift by State TV started yesterday:

There has been a significant change in editorial tone of Egypt's state TV in the past few hours - no longer hiding protests, but showing the masses gathered in Tahrir Square. Presenter and guest openly criticising former ministers - by name - accusing them of corruption, greed and misuse of power

State TV cameras also began showing the same kind of footage of Tahrir Square as Al Jazeera.

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