It appears that someone is p-d off by the pre-release:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/13837887.htm
"Officials were tight-lipped Thursday, a day after announcing the find. Calls to Hawass and other officials were not answered. American archaeologist Otto Schaden, who headed the team that uncovered the site, declined to answer any questions when contacted by reporters."
The site of the the one and only http://www.zahihawass.com/
I wonder if he knows that the intro is a joke (or is it?)
Yeah, that's a big problem for Zowie. Some years ago when the Upuaut robot go cart probed those shafts in the Great Pyramid, the German builder made a press release; he was banned from further research in Egypt, just like that. A different team did the same thing, but this time under strict control of Hawass. Even the DVD releases of older National Geographic specials (shows which predate Hawass' tenure) have supplemental material that features Hawass.
I think NG should include prints of the cartoons in every package, as a sort of balance.