[Peace-discuss] 5 Things the US Mass Media Got Wrong on Egypt

[David Green]

5 Things the US Mass Media Got Wrong on Egypt

[1/31/11]

By Fayyad
5Share
It is impressive that the US mass media has managed to conduct round- 
the-clock coverage of the uprising in Egypt given how little resources 
and few reporters they have on the ground, the few who are there had 
been parachuted in late last week, lacking context, perspective, and 
often facts. But that never stopped US mass media. Aside from the oft- 
errant reporting, there are a few mistakes the US media seems to 
insist on making, not sure if the motive is sensationalism, ignorance, 
or just pure manipulation of public opinion by distracting from 
important stories, or manufacturing ones to fit the established 
narrative:

1- Social media did not play a major role in the uprising. Sorry 
CNN, I know I’m dissing your only source for international news, but 
you keep trying to create a story where there is none. CNN anchors 
even made the assertion that the net is playing such a huge role in 
the uprising, especially when compared with the uprising in Iran last 
year. Really? If i remember correctly, the whole world was in touch 
with Iran via social media, and many activists in the west, some paid 
by governments, where setting up hack patches and relocating IP 
addresses to throw off the Iranian regime. I don’t see any of that in 
Egypt’s case. The internet was shut off on Thursday, a day before the 
large demonstration, it’s true the organizers used the internet to 
disseminate announcement, and bloggers have been fomenting the 
uprising towards regime change for some eight years. But for the 
context-less mass media who thinks this uprising was delivered by a 
stork on Friday morning, Google analytics shows that internet activity 
in Egypt is virtually zero since then. So yes, this great western 
invention helped a little with the uprising, but to put it in 
perspective, this uprising movements is over 10 years old, that’s 
roughly twice the age of Facebook or Twitter.

2- Mohammed Elbaradei is not the leading opposition figure. He’s a 
great and honest individual, and perhaps makes a good president, but 
there are many others who actually led the opposition to the regime 
and the demands for freedom and democracy for many years and enjoy far 
more credibility and street credentials. Those include Mohammed Badii, 
leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and more prominently, Ayman Noor, 
founder and leader of the progressive Ghad Part and the Kifaya 
(Enough) movement. Noor challenged Mubarak, ran against him in 
elections. He was jailed by Mubarak for five years on drummed up 
charges of forged signatures on the petition to register the party. So 
please media, stop appointing leaders for Egypt that suit you.

3- Mubarak regime is not moderate. Just because it’s somewhat 
“westernized”, allows alcohol and bikinis on beaches, and no Taliban- 
style street floggings, does not mean the regime is not a brutal, 
oppressive dictatorship. It allows virtually no freedom of speech, no 
equality under the law. It tortures in its prisons and on behalf of 
the CIA in black sites, it has rampant corruption and concentration of 
wealth and country resources in the hand of the elite few. The 
country’s economic independence has retarded greatly so that the land 
of the Nile is not hostage to wheat shortages due to insects in the US 
or floods in Australia.

4- Looting is not being carried out by protesters, so stop 
highlighting in an attempt to discredit the uprising. Reports came out 
on Thursday that thug gangs loyal to Mubarak security forces have been 
unleashed onto the streets and began reeking havoc to spread fear and 
lawlessness. At the very least, the government intentionally pulled 
police from areas where they should have been kept to preserve order 
and prevent looting like the National Museum and some banks, hoping 
some thugs would take advantage of the situation, and ultimately 
reflect badly on the protesters.

5- Asking the 30 year old dog to learn the new reform trick is 
naïve at best, and insulting to the entire people’s intelligence at 
worst. I believe it is the view of those protesters that anything 
short of complete departure of the Mubarak and all his insiders is too 
little to late. Too much blood has been spilled to settle for status 
quo. The important thing here is that the protestors remain vigilant 
and do not allow consolidation of power in the hands of army generals 
and regime insiders. Omar Suleiman, the new VP, is no better than 
Mubarak, if anything, he has served as his Rottweiler for many years, 
and he has worse bite. Elements of the current regime will renege on 
change promises if they are kept in for the transition period.

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http://www.kabobfes t.com/2011/ 01/5-things- the-us-mass- media-got- wrong-on- 
egypt.html 



      
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