CAIRO — As soldiers and policemen opened fire on supporters of President Mohamed Morsi outside an army officers’ club on Friday, killing at least four people, one of Egypt’s state television channels broadcast a religious show that advised viewers to respect the elderly.

On a second state channel, a police officer gave an interview, assuring the public that the department was working night and day to “secure the people.”

After the military removed Mr. Morsi from power while promising that it was not “excluding” any party from participating in Egypt’s future, the leadership moved forcefully to control the narrative of the takeover by exerting pressure on the news media. The authorities shuttered some television stations, including a local Al Jazeera channel and one run by the Muslim Brotherhood, confiscated their equipment and arrested their journalists. The tone of some state news media also seemed to shift, to reflect the interests of those now in charge. “This is evidence of the return of the military police state in its worst form,” said Mohamed Abdel-Razek, 28, who worked as a newscaster at Misr 25, a Brotherhood station.

The crackdown on the channels, carried out with well-orchestrated speed, was another sign of just how far Egypt’s Islamists had fallen. Having recently been among the most prominent voices on television, they struggled for days to be heard. When Egyptian television stopped covering their protests, the president’s supporters provided live streams on the Internet to show Egyptians their numbers.