Egypt

2011

  

China limits reporting on Egypt unrest in favor of ‘harmony’

Chinese information authorities are filtering results of Chinese-language Internet searches for “Egypt” and “Cairo,” according to Global Voices Online and The Wall Street Journal. The unrest raging there could prompt comparison with the student-led protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 or incite anti-government demonstrations.

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CPJ demands Egypt halt obstruction, restore Internet, SMS

New York, January 31, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Egyptian government to stop obstructing reporters’ work and to immediately return equipment confiscated from Al-Jazeera and other news outlets. Internet and SMS messages services remain disabled and must be restored without delay, CPJ said today. 

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Tawakol Karman, the chairwoman of Women Journalists Without Chains, shouts during an anti-government protest in Sanaa on Saturday. (Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi/Reuters)

Attacks on journalists in Yemen, Sudan amid street protests

New York, January 31, 2011–Journalists in the Middle East are experiencing increased harassment amid rapidly spreading street protests throughout the region, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ is gravely concerned about reports of attacks against journalists not only in Egypt, as CPJ has previously reported, but also in Yemen and Sudan.

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Egypt blocks Al-Jazeera transmissions, orders bureaus shut

New York, January 30, 2011–Nilesat, the satellite transmission company owned by the Egyptian Radio and Television Union and other government agencies, has stopped transmitting the signal of Al-Jazeera’s primary channel, the station and others reported today. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the actions of Egyptian authorities to disrupt media coverage by Al-Jazeera and calls…

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Plainclothes police chase what Reuters says is unidentified foreign journalist today in Cairo. (Reuters /Goran Tomasevic )

Egypt instigates media blackout, police target journalists

New York, January 28, 2011–Egyptian authorities have taken unprecedented measures to block media coverage of widespread protests against the government, which are on their fourth day. CPJ condemns Cairo’s news blackout and calls for authorities to immediately restore Internet and mobile phone services, end the targeting of the press, and allow media to conduct their work…

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Watching Egypt disappear from the Internet

My colleague at CPJ, Mohamed Abdel Dayem, was the first to mail me. “Just a second ago,” he wrote, “about 10 contacts of mine all disappeared off instant messaging in unison. That cannot be a coincidence.”

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Journalists beaten, websites blocked amid protests in Egypt

New York, January 26, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the violence against journalists covering demonstrations in Egypt. Plainclothes and uniformed security personnel have beaten at least 10 journalists between Tuesday and today and detained others. Egyptian authorities have also shut down the websites of two popular independent newspapers and a number of social media…

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Riot police clash with protesters in Cairo today. (Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)

Detained UK reporter records riots in Egypt

As anti-government demonstrations continue in Cairo, Jack Shenker, a reporter for the U.K. Guardian, has captured some remarkable audio. Shenker, dragged around, punched and abused, was taken into a security truck with protesters on Tuesday night–then he turned on his recorder. He describes how “police have been incredibly violent” and how in the hot, tightly…

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Preventing video takedowns when reporting

Watching the stream of reporting from Egypt today, I’ve noticed some unconfirmed reports that videos of the events uploaded to YouTube have been taken down by the company. I haven’t been able to find any concrete examples, so I can’t say whether this is true. YouTube takedowns did happen for a few of the more…

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2011