(Jan. 21, 2011) THE Tunisian revolution is another reminder of the power of viral media. But it also underlines the fact that not all information is created equal. As they did during Iran’s much-hyped “Twitter Revolution,” news organizations and bloggers have been channeling a torrent of cellphone videos, tweets and blog posts from Tunisia. Indeed, [...]
Lawrence Pintak on the Arab Media Revolution: A CJR Podcast
December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“Autocratic Arab governments have long controlled news and information with an iron hand, writes Lawrence Pintak in the cover story of CJR’s May/June issue. “No more. They try to do so in 2011, but competing versions of reality seep in—and out—through every electronic pore.” In this podcast, Pintak expands on his cover story, “Breathing Room: [...]
Egypt Through My Students’ Eyes (CJR.org)
December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
(March 2, 2011) “I was attacked today when I tried to protect some foreigners.” The Facebook message arrived in my inbox early afternoon Pacific time. It was evening in Cairo on Feb. 4, the pivotal “Day of Anger” that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the regime. The young woman who sent the message [...]
Reporting the Revolution: The New Voice of Arab Journalism (Laylina Review)
December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
(Jan. 2011) The ouster of Tunisian President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali and the ongoing regional fallout are just the latest examples of the degree to which a media revolution has shifted the power dynamics of the Arab world. Much has already been written about how text messaging, Twitter, blogs and YouTube allowed news of [...]
Tweets from the Revolution (Dateline: Overseas Press Club)
December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
(June 2011) “I was attacked today when I tried to protect some foreigners.” The Facebook message arrived in my inbox early afternoon Pacific time. It was evening in Cairo on Feb. 4, the pivotal “Day of Anger” that would ultimately lead to the downfall of the regime. The young woman who sent the message was a [...]
Arab Media Revolution Spreading Change (CNN.com)
December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
(Jan. 31,2011) Egyptians have overcome their fear of the police state. It is a seminal moment in the history of the Arab world’s largest and most influential nation. The upheaval underscores a grim reality for authoritarian regimes the world over: The electronic dam has burst and with it, their ability to control the flow of [...]
The Al Jazeera Revolution (ForeignPolicy.com)
December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
(Feb. 2, 2011) As darkness fell on Tahrir Square the night of Feb. 1, a giant makeshift TV screen broadcast Al Jazeera’s live coverage of the Egyptian uprising to the enthusiastic crowd. The channel would later transmit Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s speech, in which he announced that he would not stand for reelection but would [...]
English Lesson: The Moment Has Arrived for Al Jazeera English, Except in the US
December 11, 2011 By 1 Comment
[This is a sidebar article to the May/June 2011 cover story, “Breathing Room: Toward a new Arab media,” which you can read here.] Back in November 2008, I skewered Al Jazeera English’s live coverage of election night in the US in an article for CJR.org. “It was a bit like watching a local college TV station try [...]
The Opportunity and Peril for the U.S. in Egypt’s Rebirth (The Seattle Times)
December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
(Feb. 4, 2011) “The birth pangs of a new Middle East.” That was how then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Israeli bombing of Beirut during the 2006 war with the Shiite militia Hezbollah, which left more than 1,000 dead. Arab television juxtaposed that quote with a photo of a newborn baby, torn from its mother’s womb [...]
Breathing Room: Toward a New Arab Media (Columbia Journalism Review Cover Story)
October 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
(May/June 2011) Before there was Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or even Al Jazeera, there was Hama, Syria. It was 1982 and an anti-government protest was put down with ferocious violence. The Syrian government simply destroyed whole sections of the city, leaving at least ten thousand people dead. But the slaughter went unreported in that closed society. [...]
