Egyptian officials have recently launched a monitoring office run by its State Information Service to evaluate all information included in foreign media reports about the country, according to Egypt Independent .
According to the Huffington Post, the Fact Check Egypt office aims to verify foreign reports and their sources of information. It also noted that the staff consists of highly trained individuals who received their training by the U.S. "media ethics" news site iMediaEthics.
The website stated that many journalists who covered the terrorist attacks in North Sinai earlier this month were approached by Fact Check Egypt. Through an email, the government run program "requested" reporters to change their stories to match the government's version and set a deadline for that request.
The vicious attacks on the Egyptian armed forces in North Sinai have been widely covered by journalists and media figures around the globe. However, there was a noticeable conflicting reports on the number of soldiers that lost their lives. Some foreign and domestic reports claimed that the number of soldiers killed ranges between 30 to 60, but the army spokesperson disputed those numbers and stated that only 17 soldiers had died.
Due to the conflicting reports, the Egyptian cabinet has approved a drafted anti-terrorism bill that stipulated a minimum of 2 year sentences for journalists who report terrorism-related information that was not in line with the government's official statements. This notorious bill is currently pending President Abdel-Fatah Al Sisi's approval.