Media war waged in Egypt as violence continues

Bikyamasr

"CAIRO: A media war in Egypt is underway between state and independent outlets, as violent clashes between police and demonstrators enter their third day, leaving at least 13 dead and 700 wounded so far.

As Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper and Egyptian state TV run stories of “foreign conspirators” and “hooligans” in the square, causing anti-revolutionary chaos, independent media has worked to cover the ongoing state-waged violence wracking protesters.

Meanwhile, the army has targeted journalists, detaining them and forcing them away from the scene of the clashes.

On Saturday, the military raided an apartment above Tahrir Square that was known to host journalists seeking an aerial view of the clashes, smashing the cameras and recording equipment.
Independent journalists covering the events have reported harassment and silencing.

“Forced out of sq w/ @aellick by mob of men in suits. “We all hate u, we dont wnt u here.” Activists followed us, said men were from State Sec” tweeted independent American journalist Lauren Bohn (@LaurenBohn) on Sunday afternoon, after reporting from the scene of the clashes.

Similarly, military forces detained Bikya Masr’s own Editor-in-Chief Joseph Mayton for 11 hours on Saturday afternoon.

“They proceeded to go through every file on the computer, deleting all things they felt “were not appropriate to tell of Egypt.” Then they re-formatted my computer and handed it back,” he wrote in a testimony on his detention and treatment.

Al-Jazeera English producer Evan Hill reported on Friday, the first day of the violent clashes, that he had been detained and beaten by soldiers.

“Soldiers & men in plainclothes beat me with batons, wooden sticks & once with a crowbar before I was taken inside,” he tweeted (@evanchill) after his release.

Meanwhile, however, videos and photographs published on social networking sites have aided in combating the whitewashed state discourse, which has pledged army evenhandedness and restraint, distorting the events in order to rally the nation behind the “traumatized” army.

Perhaps most significantly, a photograph emerged showing army officers stripping and kicking a young woman, opening the eyes of many in Egypt to the state’s ongoing brutality with the now-iconic image.

The still image of the woman, bare-chested in her bra, laying on the ground while a soldiers foot remains in the air to kick her chest, was published on the front page of Egypt’s Al-Tahrir newspaper with the word “Liars,” in bold, selling an unprecedented number of copies.

The military and the prime minister responded, calling the image “Photoshopped.”

Activists responded by releasing the whole video [posted 3 posts below] that shows the full reality of the beating, sending a pulse of anger through social networking sites and the Egyptian street....."