The effect of Western media on Western governments and the interest of the average westerner in what's happening now in Egypt are often exaggerated by Egyptians. However, it is interesting to take a look at Western media and try to dissect what exactly they are getting right or wrong. In Arabic language media, the situation in Egypt has virtually no neutral media outlets. The claim by one side that it is a war on religion, and by the other side that it is a war on the nation makes neutrality impossible to achieve. Thus Western media was expected to play a unique role here, which it largely failed to do. Part of the disappointment of Egyptians in Western media stems from the fact that, through trust in anything blonde and blue eyed, they over-estimate its professionalism and lack of bias.
What Western media is getting right that Arabic speaking media is not:
1-Sketch of the MB Rabea sitin. The sitin is described as it is, nothing is added, nothing is left out. Common stories about people being forcibly kept in the sitin are easily destroyed by these neutral accounts on the ground
2-The MB sitin has been largely ignored. Yes, the demands of the sitin have been largely ignored for weeks (perhaps for good reason)
3-Excessive force was used against MB marches. Despite all qualifiers, this goes without saying
What Western media got wrong:
1-MB marches are armed in ways that Egypt has never seen. Reporters often say dismissively that yeah, there may have been a shotgun or a dozen I don't know. But this is a very dangerous precedent in Egypt. Marches that carry weapons and shoot at people were introduced in Abassiya by Hazemoon (also Islamists), but they were very marginal at the time
2-The MB sitins have killed and tortured. The small sitin at Cairo University is particularly notorious for killings in almost all the surrounding areas. Residents of Bein El-Sarayat, Giza, and Manial have had roughly 30 people shot to death by the Nahda MB sitin. Western journalists invariably approach this in one of two ways: Either claim the victims fell in clashes without specifying sides, or quoting the MB that they were thugs
3-The central message of the Rabea stage. There is barely any attempt to translate or even listen occasionally to the Rabea stage microphone. It is certain and documented that the official stage is sending an extremely disturbing message from extremely disturbing people. The personalities on the stage invariably include terrorists from Jamaa Islamiya for example. The question of how do you know they are terrorists, well, they are self-confessed and proud about it. The message is almost constantly sectarian, laying the blame entirely on the Coptic church and almost explicitly calling for attacks on churches. Claims that the attacks on Sinai would stop once Morsi is restored were also made by Beltagi. Calls for the army to fracture, for foreign intervention, for Jihadists to join the cause, and prayers and curses upon all Egyptians who disagree with the MB were also made
4-Demographics. And by that I don't mean numbers, I mean types. Most Western journalists do report that most of the sitin is from the countryside, which is true. What they mostly mis-report is that the people are there for democracy or for their votes. People are there almost exclusively for religious reasons. Most of the people there see the ouster of Morsi as an attack on Islam, most are also fed bogus stories by the main microphone on how mosques are being burnt down allover the country. Denying that the sitin is largely Islamist, largely provincial, and largely poor; does not help finding a solution. After all there should be nothing wrong being these things
5-Realism of the demands and how genuine the leaders are. Yes, the demands have been ignored. But what are the demands? Morsi's return to power is the short answer. The few thousands who stay there all the time, the tens of thousands who come every night, and the leaders have all given a single message: Nothing will change until Morsi is restored to power, the constitution is restored, and the Shura council restored. Anyone with a hint of what's happening in the country knows that if any of these things happens, masses would flood the streets in protests that would dwarve Rabea. The army and the MB are striking a deal behind closed doors you say? Well, they probably are, but the MB leadership is digging itself a very deep hole by establishing as a hard fact among the sitin that there is only one hard nonnegotiable (and impossible) set of demands
What Western media is getting right that Arabic speaking media is not:
1-Sketch of the MB Rabea sitin. The sitin is described as it is, nothing is added, nothing is left out. Common stories about people being forcibly kept in the sitin are easily destroyed by these neutral accounts on the ground
2-The MB sitin has been largely ignored. Yes, the demands of the sitin have been largely ignored for weeks (perhaps for good reason)
3-Excessive force was used against MB marches. Despite all qualifiers, this goes without saying
What Western media got wrong:
1-MB marches are armed in ways that Egypt has never seen. Reporters often say dismissively that yeah, there may have been a shotgun or a dozen I don't know. But this is a very dangerous precedent in Egypt. Marches that carry weapons and shoot at people were introduced in Abassiya by Hazemoon (also Islamists), but they were very marginal at the time
2-The MB sitins have killed and tortured. The small sitin at Cairo University is particularly notorious for killings in almost all the surrounding areas. Residents of Bein El-Sarayat, Giza, and Manial have had roughly 30 people shot to death by the Nahda MB sitin. Western journalists invariably approach this in one of two ways: Either claim the victims fell in clashes without specifying sides, or quoting the MB that they were thugs
3-The central message of the Rabea stage. There is barely any attempt to translate or even listen occasionally to the Rabea stage microphone. It is certain and documented that the official stage is sending an extremely disturbing message from extremely disturbing people. The personalities on the stage invariably include terrorists from Jamaa Islamiya for example. The question of how do you know they are terrorists, well, they are self-confessed and proud about it. The message is almost constantly sectarian, laying the blame entirely on the Coptic church and almost explicitly calling for attacks on churches. Claims that the attacks on Sinai would stop once Morsi is restored were also made by Beltagi. Calls for the army to fracture, for foreign intervention, for Jihadists to join the cause, and prayers and curses upon all Egyptians who disagree with the MB were also made
4-Demographics. And by that I don't mean numbers, I mean types. Most Western journalists do report that most of the sitin is from the countryside, which is true. What they mostly mis-report is that the people are there for democracy or for their votes. People are there almost exclusively for religious reasons. Most of the people there see the ouster of Morsi as an attack on Islam, most are also fed bogus stories by the main microphone on how mosques are being burnt down allover the country. Denying that the sitin is largely Islamist, largely provincial, and largely poor; does not help finding a solution. After all there should be nothing wrong being these things
5-Realism of the demands and how genuine the leaders are. Yes, the demands have been ignored. But what are the demands? Morsi's return to power is the short answer. The few thousands who stay there all the time, the tens of thousands who come every night, and the leaders have all given a single message: Nothing will change until Morsi is restored to power, the constitution is restored, and the Shura council restored. Anyone with a hint of what's happening in the country knows that if any of these things happens, masses would flood the streets in protests that would dwarve Rabea. The army and the MB are striking a deal behind closed doors you say? Well, they probably are, but the MB leadership is digging itself a very deep hole by establishing as a hard fact among the sitin that there is only one hard nonnegotiable (and impossible) set of demands
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