CAIRO — Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef criticized Arab media in an interview with Ali Olayyani, on the Rotana Khaliji Channel Sunday evening, saying it was stuck in the 1960s and 70s. TV programs, he said, have degraded into a “desk, a camera and a man who preaches to people,” reported Albawaba.com. Youssef, who hosted the once popular TV program “El Bernameg,” modeled after Jon Stewart's “The Daily Show,” is currently a Resident Fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics (IOP) at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He said he will eventually return to Egypt but did not give an exact date. Youssef also ruled out the return of “El Bernameg” under current circumstances. “I could return on TV with another program away from politics, but my audience would not accept that. Any other program I would do would be compared to ‘El Bernameg',” he said. Youssef dismissed the idea of presenting “El Bernameg” on TV from abroad. “I was accused of receiving foreign funds for the program when it was presented inside Egypt. So what would they say if I presented the program from abroad?” — Agencies
