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Columbia Journalism Review content tagged Egypt

1. June 1, 2011 01:03 PM

   A Look at the Arab Blogosphere

   Birth pangs of a new Middle East?

   By Bilal Lakhani

   Many of the estimated 35,000 bloggers in the Arab world have carved out reputations as online watchdogs on governments, in countries where there have been few public avenues for state accountability. Many were also credited with playing an important role in triggering the Arab spring of 2011—including the downfall of some governments and strong pressure for reform within others. But...

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2. January 31, 2011 03:50 PM

   An Internet Censorship Workaround

   A brief explainer on Tor, and how you can help

   By Lauren Kirchner

   Last week we learned that Egypt only has four major ISPs, making it relatively easy for the government to shut off the Internet with just a few phone calls. For those who are able to get online on Egypt—either through dial-up connection or via Noor Data Networks, the ISP that supports the country’s stock exchange and remains online—users still have...

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3. July 6, 2011 05:00 PM

   Arab Spring to Arab Summer

   World Conference showcases science journalism in Middle East

   By Curtis Brainard and Cristine Russell

   Doha, Qatar—The Arab Spring that toppled governments in North Africa and the Middle East turned into an Arab summer for science journalism, as more than 700 attendees from ninety countries gathered for four days last week in this Persian Gulf city to discuss the importance of covering science in a rapidly changing world and the crucial role of a free...

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4. February 22, 2011 03:24 PM

   Assessing Al Jazeera

   What's your general impression of Al Jazeera English?

   By The Editors

   As revolutions ripple through the Middle East, Al Jazeera has kept its cameras rolling. Few American cable networks offer Al Jazeera English, but it has nevertheless received more and more praise here, as so many of us have depended on its online livestream to follow the events unfolding overseas. Journalism.co.uk reports that the AJE website “claims to have seen a...

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5. January 31, 2011 08:24 PM

   Audit Notes: WSJ on BP, U.S. Props Up Egypt’s Mubarak, NFL Subsidies

   By Ryan Chittum

   The Wall Street Journal continues to lead on the BP disaster. It reported this weekend on emails showing that land-based company management created confusion among oil well workers and then pressured them to move ahead despite serious concerns in the Gulf. The lede is excellent: Just days before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, the onshore BP PLC manager in charge of...

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6. February 24, 2011 12:01 PM

   Been There, Denounced That

   Global mobility helps build awareness of human rights abuses

   By Justin D. Martin

   CAIRO—In all the excitement over emerging digital technologies, our increasing physical contact with people from other parts of the world is sometimes overlooked. Today I find it less remarkable that a lower middle class shopkeeper in Istanbul or Casablanca has a smartphone affixed to their belt than, say, the fact that they bought it on one of their frequent trips...

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7. August 10, 2012 06:50 AM

   Covering the Sinai Peninsula

   As the need for information grows, so do the reporting risks

   By Jared Malsin

   Armed assailants killed 16 Egyptian soldiers waiting to break the day’s Ramadan fast in the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday. The unidentified attackers proceeded to steal two military vehicles, which they used to breach the Israeli border before being thwarted by an Israeli airstrike. Eight attackers were reportedly killed during the incident. The attack raised the stakes in an ongoing battle...

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8. March 2, 2011 12:13 PM

   Egypt’s Revolution through My Students’ Eyes

   Arab reporters bear witness to Mubarak's fall

   By Lawrence Pintak

   “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 graduate of the Adham Center for...

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9. February 1, 2011 02:16 PM

   Following Egypt

   What are your go-to news and information sources?

   By The Editors

   It has now been a week since reform-seeking protestors by the thousands began taking to the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, clashing with police and calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Since then, the Egyptian government shut down Internet access, installed a new cabinet, called in the military, imposed a curfew. The protests continue today, with...

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10. July 18, 2012 06:50 AM

    In Egypt, new newspapers and old problems

    Citizens need good journalism to explain confusing times, but many Egyptians don't trust their media

    By Jared Malsin

    CAIRO, EGYPT — Egyptian newsstands today offer a lively range of options, including three government-owned papers, papers affiliated with political parties, and several privately-owned papers, some of which sprung up since the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. Since only 30 percent of Egyptians have access to the Internet, according to 2011 figures, newspapers, along with television and radio,...

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11. March 22, 2011 01:55 PM

    James Madison on the Muslim Brotherhood

    Democracy must tolerate extreme speech and advocacy

    By Justin D. Martin

    CAIRO—James Madison would probably welcome Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. One of the most extraordinary features of democracy is that it tolerates extreme speech and advocacy; indeed, it often welcomes their inclusion. Democracy grants “freedom for the thought that we hate,” to use the title of a powerful book by Anthony Lewis. Madison embraced this view while authoring the Federalist Papers, a...

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12. February 17, 2011 11:42 AM

    Lara Logan, Foreign Correspondents, and Sexual Abuse

    By Liz Cox Barrett

    On Tuesday came the chilling news from CBS News that chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan, while reporting a 60 Minutes segment in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on February 11th, “suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating” and is now in the United States recovering. The news has since inspired some smart, stirring writing and thinking (see, for starters, Mac...

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13. January 29, 2011 01:41 PM

    Mubarak’s Attempt to Mute 80 Million

    An old dictator outdoes himself

    By Justin D. Martin

    Editor’s Note: This commentary was dictated via telephone from Cairo, as the Egyptian government has shut down Internet access across the country. CAIRO—Things in Egypt are not as loud as they may seem on TV. The Egyptian government took the unprecedented steps Friday of shutting down Internet and mobile phone access across the country. While protests are rocking part of...

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14. May 19, 2011 01:20 PM

    Obama’s Big Speech: Is Anyone in the Middle East Listening?

    By Greg Marx

    As the president prepared to deliver his remarks on American policy in the wake of the “Arab Spring,” the lead headline on the NYTimes.com home page read, “Obama Speech on Mideast Is Also Aimed at U.S. Audience.” But if some of the observations coming in from the Middle East are on target, the various domestic constituencies noted in Michael Shear’s...

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15. January 28, 2011 10:00 AM

    Reporting a Revolution in Cairo

    A Q&A with Chris Stanton of The National

    By Lauren Kirchner

    Chris Stanton, a New Jersey native who has worked for several years for The National, an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, has been reporting since November from Cairo. He had just returned from a vacation in the U.S. on Tuesday morning when the “January 25” protests against President Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian government broke out in the city. You can read...

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16. February 8, 2011 02:12 PM

    Reporting Lessons for the Next Revolution

    Three ways that conflict-zone journalists can always be prepared

    By Dan Morrison

    I’ve been freelancing in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa since 2003. When the Mubarak regime shut down Egypt’s Internet last week, I couldn’t help wincing for all the reporters, especially freelancers, who were caught unprepared. During the two years I lived in Cairo I kept a satellite phone for work in Darfur, southern Sudan, and other places where...

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17. February 16, 2011 04:40 PM

    Returning to Egyptian Journalists Their Basic Freedoms

    Egypt's new leadership must prioritize media rights

    By Justin D. Martin

    CAIRO— The revolution in Egypt belongs to brave, stubborn Egyptians who faced down the clubs, gas, and gunfire of Hosni’s henchmen. Many Egyptian journalists also helped usher in a new era for the world’s largest Arab country, transparently reporting the brutality and back-alley thievery of a shrivelled tyrant who met his deserved end. One reason Egypt’s uprising took thirty years...

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18. July 25, 2012 06:50 AM

    The Muslim Brotherhood’s post-uprising TV station

    New since the regime change last year, Misr25 is navigating the line between coverage and advocacy

    By Jared Malsin

    CAIRO, EGYPT — The Muslim Brotherhood’s year-old television station, Misr25, broadcasts from a building in Egypt’s Media Production City, a vast complex of buildings built under former president Hosni Mubarak in the desert west of Cairo, well beyond the pyramids. The compound is home to dozens of production studios, including those of Misr25’s direct competitors in Egyptian television. A red...

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19. January 31, 2011 03:52 PM

    To Fear or Not to Fear

    The (American) Web on The Muslim Brotherhood

    By Joel Meares

    The Muslim Brotherhood has agreed to back secular opposition voice Mohamed ElBaradei as official spokesman of Egypt’s opposition groups as the country teeters on the edge of revolt. But what exactly is the Brotherhood? And how should we think about the group that will likely play a major role in any new government that will be formed should Hosni...

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20. December 30, 2011 02:41 PM

    What a Year!

    A foreign editor looks back in wonder at 2011

    By Thomas Nagorski

    On a weekend last January I sent Alex Marquardt, our newly minted Mideast correspondent, to cover a protest in Egypt. Tunisia’s long-time dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had fallen in stunningly fast fashion a week before, and together Alex and I had wondered whether something similar was stirring in the Egyptian capital. I really didn’t think so—certainly we didn’t...

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