Al Ahly channel representative summoned over Ahmed Belal programme

The Supreme Council for Media Regulation has summoned the legal representative of Al Ahly channel for a hearing after finding that an episode of the programme Hena Al Ahly, presented by former Egypt striker Ahmed Belal, breached the council’s media codes.

The hearing relates to an episode broadcast on 31 August. The council said the decision followed monitoring of the programme and was linked to violations of the regulations governing media content, including sports broadcasting.

In a statement published on Facebook, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation said:

“Based on the findings of the work carried out by the General Administration for Monitoring at the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, and the Committee for Regulating Sports Media Performance, headed by Counsellor Abdel Salam El-Naggar, a council member and deputy president of the State Council, the Complaints Committee, headed by Essam El-Amir, the council’s undersecretary, has decided to summon the legal representative of Al Ahly channel for a hearing.

“The hearing concerns the content of the episode of the programme ‘Hena Al Ahly’, broadcast on 31 August and presented by Ahmed Belal, which included violations of the media codes issued by the council.”

The council did not provide further details in its announcement about the specific content it considered to have breached the codes. The process will involve the channel’s legal representative attending the hearing to respond to the concerns raised over the programme.

Al Ahly channel recently brought in Belal to present Hena Al Ahly. The programme is linked to the club, for which Belal was one of the prominent players to emerge from the youth system before continuing his career with the senior side.

Belal also moved into football analysis and sports media after retiring from professional football in 2014. During his playing career, he represented Al Ahly and Egypt, and was captain of the Egypt under-17 side at the 1997 FIFA World Cup.

He continued to feature for Al Ahly’s first team and the Egypt national team before later playing for Smouha and ENPPI in Egypt. His career also took him to Turkey, where he played for Konyaspor and Ankaragucu.

The decision to summon Al Ahly channel’s representative was made by the council’s Complaints Committee following the work of its monitoring department and the committee responsible for sports media performance. The case concerns the broadcast itself rather than an announcement of any penalty against the channel or Belal.

The Supreme Council for Media Regulation is responsible for overseeing media content in Egypt and issuing codes intended to regulate broadcasting standards. Its latest action places the 31 August episode of Hena Al Ahly under formal review.