I've seen many mentions of "Egyptian controlled media".

Ted Turner may not have his fingers in every decision made by the staff, but he hires people who manage CNN the way he wants it run. NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX - some are more stockholder-driven than others, all of them are more or less driven by ratings, but it's generally the same. They hire people who set a given tone for the station, and they create programming that, more or less, reflects that tone.

A government-run operation has similarities, but one big difference: it can be considered the voice of the government. If Egypt has programming that consistently goes out of its way to bash the U.S., then the government *wants* that programming. Of course, in most of the Middle Eastern countries there is no such thing as a free press or free media - that does warp the definition a bit.

I'm not going to do a McCain and tell them to censor their broadcasts, but it *is* the voice of the government, and is certainly one thing we need to take into account when developing our foreign policy with respect to Egypt.

Personally, I don't have much respect for either Powell or McCain. McCain showed his colors during the Republican primary. Powell 's supposed to be heading up U.S. foreign policy, but sheesh, seems we keep getting snarled worse and worse.