Since the first protests, the
Egyptian people have engaged in a full-fledged revolution, affecting all
aspects of media and society. The revolution has made HUGE steps of progress,
but has also faced tremendous challenges. The following will give you a brief
synopsis of the functions of each media channel, along with an update on the
revolution:
Social Media: Facebook – كلنا خالد سعيد
- By reading this page (with help from Google Translate*) you can grasp how many things have happened through the social media, and how much progress the revolution’s made as a whole. There have been organized marches about a new constitution, new democratic political campaigns, remembrances of Khaled Said, celebrations, boycotts for businesses and exports, and user-generated reporting – just to name a few happenings.
- On the Facebook page, the posts are organized chronologically on the wall and it can be updated anytime at all. It allows the creator of the page along with anyone who has liked the page to post writing, pictures, and videos on the wall. The page also has sections for info, friend activity, events, questions, and notes. At this point in time; 1,888,536 people have liked the group, and 262,428 people have mentioned it in their personal posts.
- This video from Wednesday, 25 January 2012 is exclusively on The New York Times’s online newspaper (which is updated every day). The page is formatted with related videos, unrelated videos, advertisements, and options to share the video through email & various social networks.
- In this video, young Egyptians express both the optimistic progress and the terrible hardships they still face in the changing tides of the revolution – looking back after a year from the protests’ beginnings. They reflect on the protests, the new and old voting systems, the power that the youth has on the revolution, the torment that the protesting youth have experienced, the abusive government and police force, the hardships that females in their society still face, racism among the cultures in the Middle East, religion and the different ways that it affects politics, and many other things.
Blog: CPJ Blog –
Courage in Documenting Egypt’s Revolution
- This blog post from February 11, 2011 (on the 18th day of the revolution) gives you a unique perspective on the revolution, through the eyes of the journalists. The blog is updated sporadically. The post is short and simple, and gets the point across well. It is presented as one central article, with comments on the bottom (and the ability to leave your own), tags, related articles, active discussions, and email & social media tools.
- The post talks about how both foreign and native journalists “were subjected to an unprecedented campaign of censorship, assaults, detentions, and worse,” and how many of them were eventually liberated. It tells some personal stories of journalists at the revolution, highlighting the dangers and honors of their role in the Egyptian Revolution.
TV Broadcast: Democracy
NOW! – Novelist Ahdaf Soueif on Egypt’s Revolution: “People Were Rediscovering
Themselves”
- Democracy NOW! is a daily TV/Radio news broadcast hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. It is presented on their website with the video, a write up, different media channels to watch it through, other stories and topics, and email & social media options. This broadcast sums up the beginning of the revolution well, and then proceeds to interview Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif.
- She expresses the collective joy that the people of Egypt felt in the midst of a new optomistic future. She said that “everybody was finding the best in themselves, and putting it forward.” She talks about how the revolution played out, how social media played a enormous role (referencing the Facebook page mentioned above), how the government failed at fighting back. She talks about the status of the government and the debates about how it should be run, about how the revolution became hostile, and about the power of the youth in the revolution. The program also includes talk about her books, and it includes a cool rap about the revolution.
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