Cairo: US television talk show star Oprah
Winfrey is to host a live show from Cairo's Tahrir Square, the
epicentre of a revolution that ousted Egyptian president Hosni
Mubarak, a report said on Friday.
Egypt's new tourism minister Munir Fakhri Abdelnur was
quoted by the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper as saying Winfrey
had accepted an invitation "without hesitation."
"The plan is for her to broadcast a live show from
Tahrir Square on a Friday in March, but the date has not been
finalised," the mass-circulation paper said.
It was part of a campaign to revive tourism in Egypt
after the huge uprising that forced Mubarak to resign on
February 11 after 30 years in power, the paper said.
"The most famous TV hostess in the world accepted
without hesitation," Abdelnur as saying.
There was no immediate confirmation from Winfrey, who
in January launched her OWN cable network, aired in 145
countries around the world.
In December Winfrey made her first tapings outside
North America, recording a series of episodes in Australia
culminating in a finale at the specially renamed Sydney "Oprah
House".
Her reported visit to Cairo would be altogether
different, focusing on the central Cairo square where
pro-democracy activists gathered for more than two weeks in an
uprising that sent shockwaves around the world.
The revolt against Mubarak's rule was notable for the
central role played by social networking sites, including
Facebook and Twitter, to mobilise crowds to take to the
streets.
US President Barack Obama has hailed the toppling of
the strongman as a defining moment in world history, and added
that Tahrir Square itself had become deeply symbolic.
"The word Tahrir means liberation. It's a word that
speaks to that something in our souls that cries out for
freedom," Obama said.
PTI
First Published: Friday, March 04, 2011, 18:25