Comments on: Just Egypt? http://snarkmarket.com/2005/720 The stomping grounds of Tim Carmody, Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson. It's a long-running conversation about media, journalism, technology, cities, culture, design, books, music, movies, the future and the past. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:58:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Saheli http://snarkmarket.com/2005/720/comment-page-1#comment-1142 Saheli Mon, 25 Jul 2005 13:49:20 +0000 http://67.207.132.117/?p=720#comment-1142 I was thinking the exact same thing, but Tim makes a very good point about society being more closed in Egypt. I mean, a couple days after the London bombings I rendez-voused with people <i>who had been in London that day.</i>. That's not even citizen reporting, that's a gossip grapevine. We are much more strongly connected by gossip to London than to Cairo, and that is greatly reflected in our mediaspheres. There just arent' as many westerners in Egypt to get information and views from, precisely because bombings like this are both more common and more obviously targetted at westerners, who have the option of not showing up. (You can't exactly ask London to be emptied of Anglo Saxons.) Still, terribly terribly sad. The isolation Egypt risks being pluned into will only increase its socieconomic problems. I was thinking the exact same thing, but Tim makes a very good point about society being more closed in Egypt. I mean, a couple days after the London bombings I rendez-voused with people who had been in London that day.. That’s not even citizen reporting, that’s a gossip grapevine. We are much more strongly connected by gossip to London than to Cairo, and that is greatly reflected in our mediaspheres. There just arent’ as many westerners in Egypt to get information and views from, precisely because bombings like this are both more common and more obviously targetted at westerners, who have the option of not showing up. (You can’t exactly ask London to be emptied of Anglo Saxons.)

Still, terribly terribly sad. The isolation Egypt risks being pluned into will only increase its socieconomic problems.

]]> By: Tim http://snarkmarket.com/2005/720/comment-page-1#comment-1141 Tim Mon, 25 Jul 2005 11:48:06 +0000 http://67.207.132.117/?p=720#comment-1141 One of the differences between the coverage of the bombings in Great Britain and those in Egypt is that the former have been much more heavily framed than the latter: as the first suicide bombings in Western Europe, as an international guerilla attack, as the expression of the frustrated local Muslim population, etc. There was also a great deal of coverage of Londoners' response to the bombings, from the government to the police to the everyday citizenry. It's these framings and contextualizations that 1) help make the news item appear to be a story with international import and 2) help make the news item relevant for an American audience. I can't even remember how many stories I saw comparing the UK attacks, the police response, the attitudes of the local Muslim population, etc., to the Americans. To the extent that the bombings in Egypt can be made to appear as part of a larger, international story -- I saw a headline today where Musharraf rejected the idea that the bombings could have been directed by Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan -- then you can make the story swing. But that's tougher to do in Egypt, because the import and context of the bombings are less clear, because the government is less open, because journalists have less access, and yes, because Westerners have less interest. But I think it's a harder nut to crack than just that. One of the differences between the coverage of the bombings in Great Britain and those in Egypt is that the former have been much more heavily framed than the latter: as the first suicide bombings in Western Europe, as an international guerilla attack, as the expression of the frustrated local Muslim population, etc. There was also a great deal of coverage of Londoners’ response to the bombings, from the government to the police to the everyday citizenry.

It’s these framings and contextualizations that 1) help make the news item appear to be a story with international import and 2) help make the news item relevant for an American audience. I can’t even remember how many stories I saw comparing the UK attacks, the police response, the attitudes of the local Muslim population, etc., to the Americans.

To the extent that the bombings in Egypt can be made to appear as part of a larger, international story — I saw a headline today where Musharraf rejected the idea that the bombings could have been directed by Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan — then you can make the story swing. But that’s tougher to do in Egypt, because the import and context of the bombings are less clear, because the government is less open, because journalists have less access, and yes, because Westerners have less interest. But I think it’s a harder nut to crack than just that.

]]> By: Robin http://snarkmarket.com/2005/720/comment-page-1#comment-1140 Robin Mon, 25 Jul 2005 11:01:12 +0000 http://67.207.132.117/?p=720#comment-1140 SUCH a good point. Some of this disparity is driven by the fact that there are a lot more American (& 'Western') reporters in London than in Cairo. But still. Maybe THAT's part of the problem too. SUCH a good point. Some of this disparity is driven by the fact that there are a lot more American (& ‘Western’) reporters in London than in Cairo. But still. Maybe THAT’s part of the problem too.

]]>