The relationship between Egypt’s media and its Christians is worth watching, and of special interest to me since I am one of the latter. For decades, it was uncommon to see the media in Egypt talking about Christians or their problems. It was like the Christians are not there. Only twice a year, on Christmas and Easter, did I hear about Christians or see churches on TV.

From 2004 on, the private media emerged and worked effectively. The situation of the Christians in Egypt has been very attractive for private media coverage, which focuses on the marginalized, the persecuted and the oppressed.

The state-owned media, since that time, carried the responsibility of making the counter-argument; they said that Muslims and Christians were living in harmony, showing a pastor hugging a sheikh or a veiled woman holding the Quran and the crucifix together.

Not only this, but the government refuted the news reports covering Christians being kidnapped, tortured, killed or forcibly Islamized by claiming that these reports were paid and sponsored by the evil West aimed toward the destruction of mother Egypt.

During the revolution of 2011 against tyrant Mubarak, both the government-owned and private media were neutral toward Christians because the Christian issue was put on the back burner in light of more pressing problems.

Following the ouster of Mubarak, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took over for almost 16 months. In October 2011, eight months after SCAF gained control, a large group of Egyptian Christians staged a massive demonstration in response to a church that was destroyed by Salafis in Upper Egypt. What angered Christians even more was a statement by the governor of Aswan, where the church was, denying the existence of the church. Then he backed off and admitted it did exist but illegally.

The peaceful protestors were heading toward the state TV headquarters. Upon arrival, they were attacked by military forces. It turned into a bloodbath — 28 were killed and more than 200 were injured.

What followed the massacre — the way the army and state television dealt with it — concerned me deeply. The first news report about the attack stated that the “Christians” killed three military soldiers and the army was urging all noble Egyptian patriots to come and protect the military against these “violent Christians.”

This news report was broadcast as the clashes were happening. I do not know how they knew who was killed or who killed them. For hours, the same report was being aired on all state TV channels, radio stations and, for the first time since being established in 1987, in Cairo’s subways.

It was a shameful attempt to provoke sectarian tensions and encourage people to kill each other. They used the TV, radio and subway where around 4 million people commute every day.

In response to this, dozens of people with sticks and machetes were walking around the network headquarters yelling “Where are the Christians? Islam is here. God is great.”

Now, Egypt is ruled by a military-based government that aims to defeat the Islamists who target Christians and churches. So, the state TV is currently spotlighting the Islamic attacks on churches to reveal the brutality of Islamists to the world, and is turning a blind eye to the government’s responsibility to protect these churches. It is, therefore, clear that the state-owned media are slaves to whoever rules Egypt.