Hathout Talks About Egyptian Sports Media

CAIRO – 30 July 2017: Egypt Today interviewed Hany Hathout, one of Egypt’s young talented T.V. presenters, in order to talk about his views on the sports media in Egypt.

Hathout addressed the following topics: the development of sports media in Egypt, his opinion on the match day analysis studios, the role of the media in increasing football extremism and intolerance, and what he hopes he can implement in his T.V. sports show.

Hathout started off by talking about his views on the sports media in Egypt.

“Egyptian sports media is developing even though there are some problems like the way the matches are broadcast or the way some people are selected to be interviewed for TV Shows. However, I believe that the sports media is developing through introducing some new names to the field like me for instance. Those people are now presenting different types of media. For example they offer a variety of styles through the way they say the news or comment on current issues.

All in all, those young talented TV presenters who are introduced to the media add in an additional style of presenting or discussing the news. Lastly, even though I believe there are some mistakes in the sports media in Egypt, I believe that the sports media is developing in the time being.”

He then discussed the long duration of the match day analysis studio along with addressing the coverage of the last derby between Al Ahly and Zamalek SC.

“I don’t see any problems concerning that issue. Speaking on about the coverage of the last derby. I was a person who was sitting at home earlier that morning and I benefited from the early coverage of the match. I wanted to know all the updates about the match and the squad of both teams. I believe that these channels have the rights to air the match and they divide the time of how they are going to present and analyze the match throughout the whole day.

The derby between Al Ahly and Zamalek is the most important match in the season. So deciding to divide the time of the match studio throughout the whole day by doing a two hour coverage of what the social media says about the match, the next two hours are about what the fans of both teams have to say about the games followed by analyzing the squad of both teams and then the pre-match analyses."

Hathout addressed those who oppose the idea of having a studio that talks about the match for hours.

“With all due respect to those who oppose the idea, I don’t find any problems regarding that issue because in the end there are some people who can sit and receive some background information about the game. Since the Egyptian derby is like a carnival where the biggest two teams in Egypt play against each other.

Moreover, the reason to why the same words in the pre-match analysis are repeated is due to the fact that there are not to many youth analyzing compared to those who present. Those who analyze are the same names and the same stars that have been analyzing from a very long time, they have my outmost respect, but I mean that the way the analysis is presented is not updated."

The presenter of the TV sports show Extra Time continued by talking about the role of the sports media in football extremism along with addressing the main contributors to football extremism.

“In a certain time, Egyptian sports media contributed in increasing football intolerance and extremism due to the lack of neutrality while presenting at the time. There were some people who harshly advice people to do this and that along with hiding the full truth from the audience. However, recently in my opinion I believe that the social media networks are the main reason behind the increase of football extremism. Unfortunately, there are some big pages in the social media who are managed by people who are not professionals at the media. These pages have a huge impact on their followers.


For example, there could be a page that has around 2 million followers controlled by an admin who with all due of respect to the person isn’t well educated. He could post a picture with a player from the rival team saying inappropriate remarks on him. Then, some followers of that page could add on the post by commenting inappropriate words. As a result of that post, a page that supports that club could respond back with the same way. So, from here football extremism can be created.

Adding on to that, the club’s officials and the football players can increase the football extremism by either criticizing the fans or making fun of another team. Such actions increase the extremism and the response could vary due to having different types of fans those who are well educated whom know how to react and those who didn’t receive much education and cannot hold their reaction.”

The talented T.V. presenter then discussed those who use their sports show for personal issues or due to advertising reasons.

"Of course there are some people who use their show for personal disputes that they want to discuss in their shows. Moreover, they can avoid discussing an important topic because it could contradict with one of the sponsors in the show. This is a major problem in which I think it is caused due to having the money control the T.V. shows.
I think this problem will end when our media becomes much more stronger and is capable of spending on its own instead for looking for many sponsors that regulate the topics that the show present."

Lastly, Hathout talked about the things he would like to apply in his T.V. show if he had the tools and facilities required.

"I would focus more on the graphics aspect. Meaning that I won’t mainly depend on the words I say but moreover I would aid it with graphics that makes it better for the audience. Additionally, I would want to use the facilities provided to make the picture more attractive to the people. All in all, I would like to present the material I have into a more advanced and developed style that attracts those who watch the show in a more lively and quick way that doesn’t bore those who watch."