Regarding "Egypt lashes out at foreign press over coverage" (Monday World, Pg. A5), it's not every day that a military dictator can lecture Western media with any kind of moral authority, but in the case of recent coverage of the military's coup against President Morsi, it is justified. General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and others in the provisional government correctly point out that the Muslim Brotherhood under Morsi has acted like a terrorist organization, and rightfully complain of "an excessive focus on the......Morsi supporters killed by police......and insufficient attention to the acts of violence by Morsi supporters."
Their complaint is an understatement. In the U.S., if armed gangs launched dozens of coordinated attacks on policemen and churches, and the police responded by shooting the attackers, no reporter would dare to portray the gangs as simply "angry citizens", much less demonize the police for defending themselves and innocent civilians. And yet, that is exactly the way most media outlets have covered the Egyptian conflict.
That said, this narrative didn't just spring out of thin air. When prominent politicians like John McCain and Lindsay Graham both sound like mouthpieces for the Muslim Brotherhood in their demonization of the military, they give that narrative a legitimacy it doesn't deserve. Politicians, pundits and reporters alike that share this skewed storyline should be forced to explain the dozens of Coptic Christian churches burned to the ground and decades of Islamist oppression before they next venture an opinion on the matter.
Pete Smith, Cypress
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