steve

But there are differences sometimes in how we tell our stories and what our audiences expect from us. What works in the West doesn’t always work in the Arab world and here’s a column from sharq alawsat that raises this point. I agree and disagree. What do you think?

http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=26089

The stories we journalists tell should never be so perfect they are real. Here is a story about torture and injustice, a problem for Egypt too. But it is told by a government newspaper that a year ago would never consider thinking even about such a story.

What do you think

http://www.cjr.org/reports/sunrise_on_the_nile.php?page=all&print=true

After the policemen had sodomized the bus driver with a broomstick, and after one of the officers had sent a cell-phone video of the attack to other bus drivers in downtown Cairo to make clear that the cops could do as they pleased, and after someone had given the video to Wael Abbas, who posted it on his blog, something unusual happened — at least, something unusual for Egypt.

The video went viral on the Internet. Two officers were charged, convicted, and ultimately given three-year prison terms.

It was an extraordinary moment, this sudden burst of justice back in 2006. Few have dared to point their fingers at police wrongdoing in Egypt. And it’s even rarer that the culprits have been punished.

The tumult that has rocked Egypt this winter was clearly sparked by the Tunisian revolution. But the Egyptian uprising didn’t begin on Jan. 25. It was rooted in the waves of workers’ strikes and protests; the explosion of the Internet as a rallying megaphone for dissent about government abuse, corruption, and a vampire economy where a few flourish while many struggle; and a growing willingness by reporters, writers, and human-rights groups to tell the truth in the face of great risks.

The roots could be seen by anyone who has paid attention to the upheavals that have marked Egyptian society these last few years. But they were dismissed up until now as inconsequential and insufficient.

continue here:

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=before_the_revolution

the Tahrir square story is unbeleivable. Today, already thousands of people are there and more and more are flooding the streets, all my friends and relatives are either in the square or on the way to go. These are people whose relation to politics and activism used to be to read the story in the newspaper and discuss it over lunch or dinner. Everybody is there right now including my 70 years old aunt. despite the attacks and the fear we all feel safe and happy.Yesterday, I spent the day there, late at night I went back home. Behind the safe doors of my house, suddenly it was a vaccume of fear. We had to watch the Egyptian media’s false propaganda. They told Egyptians that the protestors in the the Tahrir square are causing serious damage to the economy and endangering the safety of the country. In other, allegdly, more independant Egyptian media channels, some of the most influential writers and analysts were trying to sell to the people the idea that it is time to go home, you made it people, just give the current government enough time to make it right again. Actually among the Egyptians there are those who just want their lives back to normal and beleive that the present achievements, Mubarack’s promise to leave office, is good enough.

Angry and worried I shifted to the news flowing from other International media channels. As usual, their intense focus is on the fights, the bloodshed and the terror, they ask questions about who is leading, what about the Muslim brotherhood, and the other opposition leaders, they speak to irrelevant people, who do not make part of the event , but just like the media they are observers. sunddenly in my safe warm home, I am worried, afraid and unsure.

Than again today back to the square to find the that the number of those who support the uprising is increasing tremendously. The charm of the Tahrir square is attracting more and more people, some flew all the way from the United States, Canada, Germany, London and even South Africa to be there in the square at this very moment of ultimate hope. Others are coming from different Egyptian governorates, simple people who came a long way because they beleive that this is a true revolution fighting for their rights and they were determined to give it all their support.

One very simple lady from the rural Fayoum governorate told me,” I am here to support the youth.” she posed and added,” when Mubarak’s grand son died we all felt for him , we dressed in black and cried for the innocent child, why on earth is he now doing this to our sons? How many mothers are now crying for a child who is dead or lost. “

Many analysts in the media speak of Egypt’s economy, they say that the economic growth did not trickle down to the poor and this is why this is happening. This is too simplistic. This revolution is not about poverty or need. The people in the streets from all walks of life , rich and poor are their because they want freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom.

In the square amazingly there is no anger and no violence, People are singing and clapping their hands. they form circles and forums and indulge in heated discussions that usually ends with laughter or songs. The pro- Mubarak camel riding thugs, on the oher hand, are poor ignorant people paid, reportedly, by wealthy busnissmen, to fight for the man and for his gang’s short sighted business interests, this is poverty and hunger at work, people are selling their souls and swords for the highest price. But the freedom fighters in the freedom square (Tahrir means freedom) are truely, innocently happy souls whose aim is to get their Egypt back from the hands of a regime that abused and exploited the country and the people for over 30 years.

It is a revolution lead by young intellectuals. It started as a virtual idea in the social media. They did not at the time, just ten days ago, think that it could lead to such an astounding uprising. One young blogger told me that they did not think that one can simply set a date and a time for a revolution, “we used to joke about it saying let us meet tomrrow at cilantro after the revolution, or we better do this or that thing ahead of the revolution.” Although it started and was fed by the connectivity of the internet, once it started rolling, people already were connected even in the absence of the internet and the mobile phones. Awreness and beleive is a super network that connected people.

In the media they speak of an international community afraid of a power vaccum, they speak of a fear from Islamic radicalism, others speak of the absence of the building blocks of democracy. This is exactly because they do not undrestand the nature of this revolution, the people, literally for the first time in history, are taking the lead and deciding for themselves, the government will continue to make its concessions and offers, and the street is the judge. It is a different process where the voting is a continuous process, as the street reacts to the government announcements and measures

The absence of a person or a group of persons as a recognizable leadership group or figures is intentional. The intellectual young people who started all this are actually leading by spreading awareness among the people in the square, rather than by giving orders and this is making the pressure of the street crowds even more forceful. Simply because it is the people rather than this or that specific name who is reacting and deciding.

The media should make a drastic shift and start asking the right questions, they should discuss the needed, on the ground, garantees that will make sure that the present regime including the new vice president and prime minister, at the end of an interim period will effectively let the Egyptians choose a new Egyptian administration. The people need a guarantee that whoever rules will at the end of the day month, yera go back to his home knowing that his initial identity is an Egyptian citizen and not an everlasting ruler. uptill now the Egyptian government failed the transparency exam, trying hard to hide what is happening in the square from the eyes of the world. They continue to speak a language that is not reflected in actual measures such as the announcement of new parliamentary election in three or six months with guarantees of international and judiciary monitoring.

The story of the tahrir squre is not about who is with Mubarak and who is against, it is about a truely civilized, very peoceful people who decided to regain control of their destiny. This is a total super change. It means that they have given up their let go attitude, they have broken the seal of fear that has been stamped allover their bodies and soul. they will for ever be responsible and work to rebuild the whole country.
Craig, in Shaa Allah, in ayear time you should come for a vist I beleive and hope you will find avery very different Egypt. See you then

Olfa

In the republic of fear that has long reigned over Egypt, such things didn’t happen. Showing the smallest hint of disobedience could be painful and sometimes fatal.

Yet the workers kept on coming despite the beatings, the threats and long confrontations with the government and companies that seemed to be going nowhere, and rarely toward workers’ interests.

But they were—I know what I saw in Cairo last year. The nation’s workers were  one of the groups who began to open the doors to the room where Egyptians have for decades stored their collective grit and outrage. They are now rediscovering those national assets.

The forces that first brought angry workers to downtown Cairo and to factories’ gates across the country a few years ago were powerful and deeply disruptive —the reason for the venom that poured forth.

Several years ago, when the state stepped up its privatization of government-owned facilities in a further liberalization of the one-time socialist economy, workers more often wound up as losers.

The new owners trimmed the ranks of the facilities, cut wages, reduced benefits and essentially wiped out the tiny sense of economic security that the workers had clung to. As the demonstrations grew against the new owners, the government promised to look into the problem and to slow the privatization. But the damage was already done and the promises were rarely met.

While Egypt’s economy boomed and luxurious gated communities blossomed in the desert surrounding Cairo, workers’ lifestyles were withering away as inflation ate away at their meager earnings and wages remained stuck at subsistence levels.

Time and again workers pleaded for the government to boost the minimum wage, which was about $7 per month for most of last year. But the government held off and officials said that workers actually were doing better. Their average wages were up around $70 a month, according to government officials.

So as new hotels and new malls bloomed, four out of ten Egyptians were earning less than $2 a day last year.

This viper economy meant that there has been a booming market in Egypt for people to sell their body parts to merchants in Egypt and across the Middle East. But even when they do, they are often cheated out of the money and left terribly sick from an economic fantasy gone bad.

Desperation has brought a brisk trade in selling young girls as short-term brides to wealthy Arab visitors, a euphemism meant to deal with Muslim sensitivities. In actuality, the girls are prostitutes who are sold for weekend services to super rich Gulfies, who have left behind thousands of youngsters without financial or any other support.

In most countries of the world, the ones with the highest unemployment rates are the low educated. Not in Egypt. College graduates dominate the ranks of the unemployed because many of their degrees are worthless, and the only jobs many can find are low-wage service jobs.

That is why there has been a slow trickle of young well-educated Egyptians trying to smuggle themselves into Europe and into better lifestyles. A number of these have lost their lives at the hands of heartless smugglers.

Without stable, decent-paying jobs, they have no prospects for improving themselves and no chance of getting married. Before marrying in Egypt, a groom needs to be able to support a new family. Many young men can’t and that is just one reason why you see mostly young faces marching in Cairo and Alexandria today.

On the books, Egyptian officials have been able to point to figures showing a national economy growing steadily.

But when Egyptians have reached into their pockets, they have often found barely enough to keep them going. That’s one reason why the country has a high rate of stunted children – youngsters who never grow to full size.

On paper, most workers belong to unions. But in reality the unions have shown little interest in workers’ rights or securing a better future for them. That is why nearly all of the more than 3,300 factory occupations, strike and other forms of protest since 2004 involved workers on their own or through their attempts to create dissident unions.

In a traditional society, the men have been the ones that have led the protests. But female workers began shouldering their share of the fury several years ago, taking part in the demonstrations and protests. In one case, women alone led and dominated a factory occupation, their children by their sides.

Hungry, tried and frustrated, workers began challenging the government to improve their lives several years ago. Sometimes the uproar was so great that the government caved in and met their demands. But it always took a clinched battle for the government to eventually back away and reach a deal, factory by factory.

But this time, they are no longer worried about what they could lose.

ورغم أنني من أكثر الناس تشاؤماً

من ألأوضاع العامة في المنطقة

وكنتُ دوما أقلهم تفاؤلاً

إلا أنني أكاد أُجزم

أنني أشتمُ رائحة تسونامي التغيّير

تهبُ على المنطقة بأكملها

أما ماهيّة التغيّير فمن الصعب التكهن به

وإن كنتُ أُخمنُ أنها تغيّيرات جذريّة

Although I’m one of the most pessimistic people.

I am the least optimistic when it comes to the situation in the region.

However, I have to tell you that I can feel the wind of change.

I feel it blowing on the whole region.

I might not be able to identify that change, but I guess it will be a major one.

And listen to this incredible audio by a Guardian (UK) reporter seized by police along with dozens of others:

from Guardian reporter in Cairo seized by police

follow global voices here:

http://globalvoicesonline.org/specialcoverage/egypt-protests-2011/

Follow the blog below:

http://nawaat.org/portail/

I am moved by this column from Hani Shukrallah in al  Ahram online:

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The author-expert writes:



A fifth map on the Egyptian elections is the Abu Balash map, a voluntary Initiative of a group of Egyptian bloggers.

Now, I have to say: of course, this sound a bit ridiculous, 5 interactive maps to monitor the same event. I started laughing when I heard about it the first time. But lets’ be honest: THIS IS A GREAT THING!!!

In a country like Egypt, where election monitoring is not exactly the most common action taken, and where lots of activists and young people use Facebook, Twitter and Internet in general, the fact that there are many platforms is an awesome achievment!! Egyptians will not have one, but 5 different means to report, and in this way the government is not only going to deal with the U-Shahid project but they have to deal with 5 platforms that will challenge their propaganda and their media control.

Get the full explanation here:

http://crisismapper.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/ushahidi-egypt-when-open-data-is-not-so-open-or-when-people-just-don%e2%80%99t-get-it/

“Abroad, there are laws and a history of democracy and human rights that keeps those with power — political and financial — in check. Here, we don’t have that.

What happened to Eissa was meant as a lesson for all newspapers and independent media. It was meant to show them who’s boss.”

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1019/op3.htm

Blogging and the Internet today are forces journalists and citizen journalists have learned to wield quite well. And their experience is worth holding up as an example across the Arab world.

Here is an NPR program that confirms what I am saying here. But it leaves out some points. What else would you add to it?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425721

Here is a very good report on the state of Arab television. Read it all. What do you think?

“Despite the disappointing pace, there is much change afoot in Middle East media. There have been impressive gains in the range of views presented on newscasts and talk shows and a wider margin for dissenting opinions. Regional conflicts are well-covered, and journalists report on sensitive political and social issues in many countries. Freedom House, while still categorizing most MENA countries as “not free” for media, acknowledges that most countries have logged steady progress toward freedom—just not enough to warrant a “free” ranking. “There has been an improvement in scores,” said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, senior researcher and managing editor of the organization’s Freedom of the Press. “It’s just that they still end within the ‘not free’ category. It’s because they are starting out from such a low base.”

http://cima.ned.org/reports/shifting-sands-the-impact-of-satellite-tv-on-media-in-the-arab-world.html

It is a lesson in using good writing reporting and writing to focus on an issue that has public momentum.

If you know of similar stories in the Arab world on this topic, please let me know.

Stephen

Here is just one story that translates their efforts.

Fikra Mahmoud
For the Yemen TimesPublished:29-03-2010

TAIZ, March, 27 — For five months, Hind has been physically abused, sexually assaulted, and has several times tried to run away from a forced early marriage. Only now has she found shelter. According to the woman she is staying with, she is pregnant.

After she tried to escaped, her uncle, who had arranged her marriage, tied her by the neck with an iron chain to his house, because she had refused to stay with her husband.

Hind looks about 13 or 14 years old. Her body and the fact that there are only 24 teeth in her mouth are further evidence that she is less than 14 years old.

http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=33788

more on Child Brides, from Arab News

http://archive.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=131456&d=19&m=1&y=2010

Here is a story from the National on the controversy in Yemen

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100324/FOREIGN/703239830/1002/NEWS

And another:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/middle-east/100316/child-brides-yemen

In its 2009 roundup, “Wars and disputed elections: the most dangerous stories for journalists”, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) records a 26 percent increase in killed journalists compared to 2008 – up to 76 from 60. It cites the election-related massacre of 31 journalists in the Philippines and the vicious sweep of Iranian journalists and bloggers in arrests and convictions in the aftermath of disputed elections as the most “appalling” events of 2009.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) records at least 70 journalists killed in 2009 – the highest annual number ever recorded by CPJ – as a result of long-term violent trends. “Most of the victims were local reporters covering news in their own communities. The perpetrators assumed, based on precedent, that they would never be punished. Whether the killings are in Iraq or the Philippines, in Russia or Mexico, changing this assumption is the key to reducing the death toll.” In the Philippines, the government permitted politically motivated violence against journalists to go unpunished and it “became a part of the culture” says CPJ.

Many of the deadliest countries for press freedom have a history of impunity, says CPJ. Three journalists were killed in Russia, including Abdulmalik Akhmedilov, a Dagestani editor who severely criticised government officials for silencing religious and political dissent. In Sri Lanka, editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, known for his critical reporting of the government, was beaten to death with iron bars and wooden poles.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) arrived at a total of 137 journalists and media workers killed in 2009 – 113 of them targeted. The IFJ list is coordinated with the International News Safety Institute (INSI) and includes 24 accidental deaths, as compared to 109 killings in 2008. It also includes all media staff who die on the job. The year ended with a “rush of media killings,” says IFJ; a gruesome tally that should prompt governments to do more to protect journalists.

Iranian authorities were overwhelmed by opposition to the June elections and responded in a brutal fashion with arrests of journalists. “This wave of violence bodes ill for 2010, when crucial elections are scheduled in Côte d’Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Burma, Iraq and the Palestinian Territories,” said RSF. Election-related violence against journalists was also seen in Tunisia and Honduras, reports Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) in its year-end review.

For the first time, RSF took a tally of journalists forced into exile in 2009 with a total of about 160. Numbers were particularly dramatic in Iran and Somalia where more than 50 journalists fled each country, as well as in Sri Lanka with the departure of 29. Repressive regimes understand that by “pushing journalists into exile” they can reduce pluralistic views and criticism of government policies, says RSF.

The National Union of Somali Journalists’ (NUSOJ) details a harrowing year in its year-end report, “War on Journalism in Somalia: Death, Displacement and Desolation.” Seven out of the nine journalists killed in 2009 were murdered in Mogadishu. The report adds that many of the killers are known, but a culture of impunity with no law and order has exacerbated the crisis against the media.
The report documents 9 media deaths, 12 wounded journalists, arrests of 15 media workers, raids on media outlets and death threats forcing numerous journalists to flee the country. Independent, credible journalists must choose between a life in exile or risking death in order to do their job.

According to RSF, at least 167 journalists were in prison worldwide at the end of 2009. Eritrea has the highest number of journalists behind bars in Africa, with 32 imprisoned. At least one journalist is assaulted or arrested every day in the Middle East. Physical assaults and threats have gone up by a third worldwide. The Americas had the highest number of assaults and threats. In Asia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal also recorded high numbers of violations. Kidnappings have increased, especially in Afghanistan, Somalia and Mexico. In addition, censorship rose with close to 570 cases of newspapers, radio or TV stations shut down worldwide.

Dissent is being increasingly expressed online and the Internet has become a powerful tool for democracy campaigns in several countries, reports RSF. As a result, blocking websites and online surveillance is on the rise, with China, Iran, Tunisia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Uzbekistan named some of the worst offenders. RSF reports more than 100 bloggers and cyber-dissidents imprisoned worldwide for posting their opinions online. Two Azerbaijani bloggers were thrown into jail for making a video mocking the political elite. The number of countries affected by online censorship has doubled, says RSF.

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) released a year-end regional update, documenting repression of Internet freedom in 20 Arab countries. The report, “One Social Network, With a Rebellious Message” details how governments block and censor the Internet, and curb dissent by kidnapping, arresting and torturing online critics. But the report also identifies the Internet as an unstoppable tool to combat repression. It examines how blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are used to fight for free expression and expose corruption in the Arab world.

In the Arab region, there are 58 million Internet users, 150,000 active blogs and 12 million Facebook users, according to ANHRI. Egypt has 15 million Internet users and is also the most repressive of Internet activists. Saudi Arabia and Tunisia rank as the most oppressive Internet monitors.

Elsewhere in the world, ARTICLE 19′s year-end report says freedom of expression is in “retreat” in Europe. In Italy, 10 journalists are under police protection for reporting on the mafia. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi publicly stated that he would “strangle” anyone reporting on the mafia because it made Italy look bad. In Spain, journalists were attacked by Basque militants. In Finland, a journalist was ordered by police to stop covering a demonstration, violently removed from the protest and detained for 18 hours. The report includes examples of the chilling effect of criminal defamation laws on free expression, the impact of anti-terrorism laws on free speech, and the violation of journalists’ rights to protect their sources.

If you know of other examples of covering of breaking news using new technology in the Arab world let me know. And what do you think of this? What difference does it make for Arab journalists?

salaam

Steve

Read here:

http://nadiaelawady.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/islamonline-nets-future-in-question/

http://twitter.com/search?q=%23IslamOnline

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/going-line



One of the sad truths of economic crises is that people first learn how they have been cheated out of their money when the economy collapses.

Why is this true in crises?

In good times, schemes can flourish because there is a lot of money floating around. The typical scheme is a pyramid arrangement. A businessperson convinces investors  that he can earn them great profits by investing. In fact, he does not earn great profits. What he does is take money from one investor and give it to another. That is why we call it a pyramid scheme.

But such schemes collapse when people withdraw their money, and when there are fewer people willing to take part in such operations.

What keeps these operations going year after is the hope of earning more money, the failure of regulators to catch the swindlers, and good times that keep the schemes afloat.

Suggestions for reporting

In the current global crisis, several of these pyramid schemes have surfaced around the group of investors who thought they were earning exceptional profits. The challenge for a reporter is keeping in touch the regulatory agency that might catch such schemes.  In most markets, companies’ profits do not go up at perfect angles or regular percentages. But swindlers mistakenly keep improving their results in the same manner.

Some questions you might ask:

Are there persons with a history of such frauds now selling stocks?

Have a great number of people lost large amounts of money from the same business person?

What were the promises that the alleged swindler made to the investors?

What were the relationships between the business and government regulators?

Is there a record of investigations that raised questions but took no action?

Are there any persons who were found guilty of frauds who now will talk about these operations?

What records do government agencies keep on such frauds? What are the international agencies that track such companies? Are there any agency officials who have retired or joined other organizations and how can you reach them? Before you do, make sure you know who they are working for now.

Are there news stories about investors that promise very high profits?

Did you draw a diagram to show who is linked to who and another diagram to show the flow of funds from investors and another to show the timeline of events?