African countries have failed to utilize the free access to satellite broadcasting recently offered by the Egyptian government, according to an official of the North African country.
Nabil Osman, the chairman of Egypt’s Information Service, said that “access to the multi-million dollar Nile Satellite (NILESAT) was announced to African countries in the mid-1990s, but today no government has seized the offer.”
“The offer followed a long cry by our sister countries that Africa has always been painted negatively by the powerful and influential Western media. We (Egypt) took up the request and made an offer, which has not been used at all," Osman told a group of African journalists in Cairo.
He said the Western media argued that their audiences enjoyed stories related to disasters like floods, wars, famine, epidemics and other human catastrophies, according to the Monitor.
The $170 million satellite station, which was established in 1996, is a privately owned company – Albawaba.com
