Inauguration Day, 2017

The presidential inauguration took place at 7:00 p.m., Cairo time on a Friday evening making it in prime-time viewing.  This caused some conflict in households with only one TV since there was a football match on at the same time. Dad won that conflict in one family that we know.

Eight years ago, we had not quite installed our satellite dish when Inauguration Day rolled around and we had to watch the Obama ceremony from a Nile TV broadcast over the air and in standard definition.


You can review that post here.

This year, we had a choice of several channels.  Nile TV, BBC, CNN-International, French 24, RT (Russian) All had coverage as I scanned the news channels group on our dish receiver.  All but Nile TV were offering English commentary.  CCTV (Chinese Central television) appeared to be ignoring the event, in conformance to gov't wishes.

We settled on the BBC.


As always, there is much interest in American politics in Cairo with the usual question being a cautious, "What about Trump?" from cab drivers and merchants who find themselves talking to Americans.

U.S. demonstrations and protests get wide coverage here.  When I stopped at the bakery this morning, my friend behind the counter suggested that I was probably glad to be in Cairo and not back in the states today! It's all in your perspective where it's safe to be.

Many Egyptians were particularly happy to catch a glimpse of former President Carter who is still held in high regard by those old enough to recall his term in office.



Other Network's coverage: