Egypt TV news boss fired for airing old Sissi interview

CAIRO — The head of news in Egypt’s state television has confirmed he was fired after the network mistakenly aired an old interview with the country’s president instead of one he gave this week.

Mustafa Shehata, in comments published by Cairo dailies Thursday, described the mix-up as a “gross error.”

The wrong interview was on the air for nearly 10 minutes before the transmission was halted Tuesday.

The state television’s chief has apologized for the mistake.

The erroneously broadcast interview was given last year by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to the US network PBS. The one that was meant to be broadcast was given to the same network this week in New York.