The Jerusalem Post had four Israeli journalists arrested in Cairo by Egyptian military police. And, two Swedish reporters, according to the Jerusalem Post, were "accused of being Mossad spies." They were attacked, spit on and the thugs threatened to kill both of them. When one considers what has been running on State TV, it is not hard to understand why the Mubarak regime likely sent people out to target foreign journalists. Tweets from the past hours report State TV has been:
-Accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of throwing fireballs at Tahrir (CNN reports there is no evidence of this)State TV has been explicitly used to disseminate propaganda since the uprisings began. Modeled after BBC television, it was not intended to be an outlet for state propaganda. One Egyptian journalist, Shahira Anin, who just resigned from working for Nile TV, commented on Al Jazeera it has not been like this (and she had been working for State TV since 1989).
-Using loop of government supporters shot during the daytime instead of airing live nighttime shots of violence-Claiming Hamas factions and others in Tahrir Square were trained by Israel, the US and Qatar
-Showing Omar Suleiman, the recently appointed Vice-President, saying there will be no dialogue with opposition until they stop protesting.
The Mubarak regime understands that it has been losing a battle over information on what is taking place in the country. Many would say the events that unfolded on Al Jazeera were much more accurate than what was depicted on Egyptian State TV. Still, the regime has continued to pretend images being spread by other press are being spread by anti-Mubarak members of the press.
With the existence of services like Audio Boo or Google's new Speak to Tweet, it is virtually impossible to stop those witnessing violence against the revolution from uploading reports that can be shared instantly. Citizens using social media technology and people from all over the world have developed ways to get information to Egyptians making State TV irrelevant.
So, the regime now sees brute force and repression as the last available tactic for preventing the truth of what's happening from getting out. The regime now is convinced it has no choice but to brutalize all people with cameras who are trying to get the truth out. Worse, it thinks it must promote the idea that the press are serving elements seeking to wreak chaos and havoc in Egypt and use that conspiracy to push thugs to attack journalists.
*Earlier Wednesday, "Inside Story" ran a segment on "The Media War in Egypt" on Al Jazeera. Here is the segment, which examined how Egyptian State TV operates as propaganda:
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