Experienced journalist Hamdy Rizk was appointed as the new editor-in-chief of Al-Masry Al-Youm Daily following a controversy about its presidential elections coverage, Egypt's largest independent newspaper announced on Saturday. 

Rizk is replacing journalist Mohamed El-Sayed Saleh who was fired by the privately-owned newspaper's board last week after the High Media Council decided to fine the paper EGP 100,000 for publishing a controversial front-page headline on 27 March alleging Egyptian governors were incentivizing voters to go to the polls.

The headline, which read The Government Mobilizes Voters, came on the third day of voting in Egypt's recent presidential elections.

The headline was removed from the front page in the second and third editions of that day's issue.

Hamdy Rizk was born in Mounf, Mounfia governorate in the Nile Delta 1964.

He graduated from the Cairo University's faculty of mass communication with a major in journalism in 1986.

He began his career in journalism in Egypt at state-owned Weekly Rosa Al-Youssef magazine in 1984 as a reporter. In 1993, he moved from Rosa Al-Youssef to state-owned weekly Al-Mussawar magazine as reporter.

In March 2009, he became Al-Mussawar's editor in chief, and left in July 2013.

Rizk has published a daily column at Al-Masry Al-Youm since the paper was launched in 2004.

Al-Masry Al-Youm is currently Egypt's largest independent liberal daily newspaper.

It is published by Al-Masry Al-Youm for Journalism and Publication, which was founded in 2002 by businessman Salah Diab.