Hawass says that BBC broke MSA regulations

drhawass.com (Zahi Hawass)

I was very pleased to be involved with this project, which will be aired in a television program called Egypt’s Lost Cities. Unfortunately, however, an inaccurate article about it was prematurely released, even before the BBC’s press release was checked by my Ministry.

According to Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) regulations, it is prohibited for anyone to announce a discovery before notifying and obtaining the approval of the Ministry first. This procedure is in place to ensure that any discoveries people want to announce are real and have been officially verified. If every mission authorized to carry out work in Egypt was allowed to announce things without them being checked first, there could potentially be lots of false claims made all the time.

Sadly, this was the case with the BBC. I am disappointed that not only was the report published without the approval of the MSA, but also that its announcement was not accurate, showing how important it is to follow the proper protocol. The draft press release reported that 17 new pyramids and thousands of ancient Egyptian settlements have been discovered by the University of Alabama using infrared satellite images and that the last major pyramid find was made over 20 years ago.

Bikya Masr

Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Zahi Hawass wrote on his official blog that the BBC had broken government regulations on the reporting of the discovery of 17 previously unknown pyramids and thousands of tombs via satellite.

“According to Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA) regulations, it is prohibited for anyone to announce a discovery before notifying and obtaining the approval of the Ministry first,” he wrote.

“This procedure is in place to ensure that any discoveries people want to announce are real and have been officially verified. If every mission authorized to carry out work in Egypt was allowed to announce things without them being checked first, there could potentially be lots of false claims made all the time,” Hawass added.

Many news outlets, including Bikya Masr reported the new discovery using satellites. Bikya Masr did not, and has not, asked for the ministry’s permission to report on substantiated and sourced stories pertaining to new discoveries in Egypt.

Hawass said the BBC has apologized for not notifying the ministry beforehand.