I have been following the events in Egypt fairly closely and things are getting tough there. The protests had been mostly non-violent until yesterday when pro-Mubarak protestors (many say they are paid operatives of the Mubarak regime) started confronting anti-government protestors in Tahrir Square. It’s also gotten very dangerous for journalists. CNN’s Anderson Cooper was attacked yesterday by pro-Mubarak protestors.
There’s been reports of journalists from Al Jazeera, especially, who have been detained, roughed up and their equipment confiscated. So, this tweet by Time‘s Jay-Newton Small was especially disgusting yesterday.
According to Jay Newton-Small, a journalists job is what, exactly? Stenography from press releases and press conferences? I guess that explains the state of the U.S. media.
I’m sympathetic to arguments about television news stunts. Having reporters stand in hurricanes is just silly, IMO. Anderson Cooper is doing something really important right now though, and you can’t get the real story on Egypt without being there and experiencing it. That’s what he’s doing and I admire him and every other journalist that is doing it tremendously (especially Al Jazeera, who has been at the front lines since the beginning).