The murder of Giulio Regeni: The politics of coverage
How coverage differs when it comes to Regeni and thousands of disappeared Egyptians. Plus, Malaysia’s muzzled media.
On January 25, the day that marks the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising, Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni disappeared. Ten days later, his body was found in Cairo by the side of the road.
Regeni’s death has made news globally. His photo has circulated around the world because, unlike the images of thousands of Egyptians who have come to similar fates, his has more political currency on the international news market.
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The ensuing coverage has prompted a major diplomatic fallout – and also questions about those whose photos and stories have failed to make it on to our news bulletins.
This week, we take a look at how the media both in Egypt and Italy are dealing with the story.
Talking us through this media divide are: Sherine Tadros, Middle East correspondent at Sky News; Laura Cappon, Editor at Rai Radio 2; Giuseppe Acconcia, journalist and researcher; and Dr HA Hellyer, Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.
Other stories on our radar this week: Another Syrian journalist has been killed in Turkey at the hands of ISIL; an Australian TV crew has been arrested in Lebanon for involvement in a kidnapping saga – not for their reporting, but for facilitating the whole thing; and imagine life under a Trump presidency – that’s what one paper did with a fake front page-come-public health warning. Also, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s sense of humour is being tested again – this time it was a satirical poem aired on public broadcaster ZDF.
Covering Corruption: Malaysia’s Media Morass
In May 2015, investigative news website the Sarawak Report broke the 1MDB corruption scandal – millions of dollars allegedly misappropriated from the country’s development fund into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts.
Coverage of the story revealed something many Malaysians already knew: that the country’s media landscape is split between mainstream outlets unwilling to report such stories and online publishers facing increasing pressure to keep silent.
The Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi reports on the difficulties of covering corruption in Malaysia under a government determined to reign in the online media space.
Finally, this week, after a short three years on air, Al Jazeera America went to black. When the channel launched in 2013, its staff knew it was never going to be easy. AJAM, as it came to be called, was trying to offer something different, but fell short on viewers and advertising revenues. In January, it was announced that the channel’s business model had proven unsustainable. Around 700 journalists would lose their jobs. So they built a website – bestofajam.com – to try to find new opportunities in journalism. And we hope they get them. This past Tuesday the staff of the channel said its goodbyes and that’s what we’re leaving you with. We hope you enjoy the show.
Published On 16 Apr 2016