Egypt’s elections: A new era for the media?

Last week, we returned to Tahrir Square, where the world watched Egyptians rise up for the second time since Mubarak’s fall. This week we have stayed put – to make sure we chronicle media coverage of the country’s first parliamentary elections in the post-Mubarak era – and to keep up with the changing landscape of the media itself, including: a state owned broadcasting powerhouse losing credibility fast; an explosion of new private channels with their own agendas; the activists still driving the revolution online; and the warnings to women reporters to stay out of Egypt that were politely ignored. Our Newsdivide this week keeps its focus on Egypt, as the country and its media undergoes transition.

In our Newsbytes this week: A cable TV operator in Pakistan threatens to drop foreign news channels airing “anti- Pakistani content” – the first in the firing line: the BBC; Julian Assange is awarded Australia’s version of the Pulitzer and a DC journalist is temporarily suspended from a press club after asking a member of the Saudi royal family some uncomfortable questions.

China’s new media campaign

Should the state control what society wants to see? These days it seems hardly a week goes by without the authorities in Beijing issuing some new rule dealing with the media. The latest is a ban on advertising during TV dramas – the idea being to keep viewers from hitting the remote during the programme.

Before that, the government announced the end of a wildly successful talent show. Among the other changes to what the government calls its ‘Cultural Development Guidelines’: internet companies being told to keep a closer eye on online content and journalists told they cannot report news stories found online or via phone networks without first getting official verification. Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi reports on China’s new media campaign and how the party is tightening its control over television and the web.

This week’s video of the week: the perils of modern media culture. A video production company based in South London have put together a video involving a plastic desk toy who sees the world through the computer. Some of us see it as an eloquent metaphor for people who spend too much time online and should get out more. Others in the team think it is a great excuse to end the show with a beautiful flight of fancy – instead of a reference to news. It is called Address is Approximate, it was made by Theory Films – and it is our Internet video of the week.

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