Egyptian bloggers recently exposed police in Giza torturing bus driver Emad Mohamed Ali Mohamed by publishing a video of it online. The police released the bus driver with no charge 36 hours after the video was taken.
This sort of barbaric treatment of civilians by police was commonplace — and generally ignored — but this time was different. The video circulated the Internet, and soon Islam Nabih and Reda Fathi, the two policemen, were arrested and brought up on charges. The blogger at demaghmak.blogspot.com and many others managed to bring the story of the bus driver’s treatment to the forefront of local and international news, leading to it being reported by independent newspapers and even Al Jazeera. The viral spread continued, and other videos followed; videos submitted anonymously, many recorded with cell phones.
Blogging seems to be going strong in Egypt, and it’s making quite a splash.
19 Comments
Give a young man a blog and he’ll start a revolution.
This sort of thing has been happening a lot, hasn’t it? Maybe this is a sign that the old media forms are becoming outdated.
I agree. This wouldn’t have been possible without the Internet.
Blogging is changing teh world!
It really says a lot about the limits of mainstream media. Once again, the real reporting comes from independent sources.
“Blogging is changing teh world!”
Yes!
This is pretty impressive. Really shows the power of new media.
i cant read the blog u linked to
Try babelfish.
thnx
Indepentend media is within the grasp of almost anyone thanks to blogging. This sort of thing is what happenes when the people decide what is important news: justice gets done. Screw corporate media!
I’ll have to remember that one.
Great story and great blog. Good job probabilityZero.
that’s messed up
when are people going to realize that torture doesnt work?
“when are people going to realize that torture doesnt work?”
sure it does, and it’s fun too!
“Blogging is changing teh world!”
seconded
“when are people going to realize that torture doesnt work?”
sure it does, and it’s fun too!
LOL
I think there are two distinct definitions of “blog.” Blogs like the one in the article or even this one (talkingincircles.net) that are independent news sources, and the ones hosted on myspace or livejournal where emos, bimbos, and jocks bitch about their life. I propose we come up with a new word.
The only torture in this country is people that actually like volkswagons case closed