/middleeast

Egypt Suspends 8 Female TV Anchors, Saying They Are Overweight - The New York Times
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/world/middleeast/egypt-suspends-8-female-tv-anchors-saying-they-are-overweight.html

Alaa el-Sadani, a commentator for Al-Ahram, said that she was “sickened by the disgusting and repulsive” appearance of the eight suspended anchors, and that she believed the rest of the country agreed with her.

Fatma al-Sharawi, another Al-Ahram writer, welcomed the move as a way to improve the abysmal ratings of the state channels. “Is a ban for eight enough?” she asked.

Viewership of state television, long dismissed by many Egyptians as a comically biased news source, fell significantly after the uprising that removed President Hosni Mubarak from power in 2011.

“They don’t understand that people don’t watch them because they have no credibility, skills or quality,” said Mostafa Shawky, a free-press advocate with the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression. “It has nothing to do with looks. But it goes to show that actual skill is not something they care about.”