CAIRO: As Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad settles in as president for another four-year term, the post election protests, which are yet to achieve concrete results, have succeeded in drawing the world’s attention to the way we use media.
In particular, the events in Iran have brought international notice to the role of internet media in a region where citizens are often unable to express their opinions freely. Twitter, a social-networking site allowing users to “tweet, or post, updates of up to 140 characters, continues to play a significant role in the dissemination of news and in the organization of protests.
As Twitter, blogs, and Facebook begin to be viewed as more than just a cyber social scene, we have seen governments and news outlets alike scramble to understand and use these new internet networking sites.
The question then becomes one of universality: Can Iran’s internet success spread to other populations living under repressive governments?
“In many ways Egypt led the way in using blogs and other related technologies as activist tools, said Courtney Radsch, associate editor of Al-Arabiya, in an email interview.
According to Radsch, Egyptian bloggers played a pivotal role in the 2005 judges’ protest, the 2006 campaign against sexual harassment, and the 2008 April 6 strikes.
More recently, the Egyptian internet community responded to the unrest over the Iranian elections. During the initial days of protesting, many tweeted messages of encouragement, offered advice on how to blog anonymously to protect the identity of Iranian activists, and continued to rapidly spread information regarding the actions of the protesters and the Iranian government.
As the 2010 parliamentary elections approach, many wonder if a reaction of this magnitude could occur in Egypt.
According to Naila Hamdy, assistant professor and chair of the department of journalism and mass communication at the American University in Cairo, “These networks will play an active role in the upcoming elections as they have become a part of the information landscape.
But just how much of a role these internet tools will play remains to be seen.
Dalia Ziada, blogger and Egypt office director of the American Islamic Congress, expects that blogging and Twitter will provoke debate and discussion surrounding potential parliamentary candidates. She believes that “young people are getting more interested and involved in political debates, social activities, and civil rights activism.
In addition to supporting open dialogue, blogging plays an important role in spreading information both domestically and internationally.
“Arabic blogger activists are important links between their communities and the wider activist community. English bloggers are important information sources for Western journalists, says Radsch. The media frenzy surrounding Iran incited comments from leaders around the world admonishing the Iranian government’s crackdown on peaceful activists.
There’s a difference
But protests garnering international support may not be as successful elsewhere. “Notice that these resources have been particularly important in the post-elections outrage phase – a phase we simply never reach in Egypt, Mo-Ham-Ed, of the blog The Traveler Within, said in an email interview. “We sulk, complain at an unvoted constitutional reform or presidential referendum, and eventually bow down [sic].
While many see these networking sites as an important part of activism and news dissemination, there are certainly limits on the effectiveness of cyber-activism. “I don’t know of a regime that has fallen by Twitter really. So let’s not get too excited – the revolution was not tweeterized, and it won’t be any time soon, says Mo-Ham-Ed.
David Faris, a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Pennsylvania who has done extensive research on media in Egypt, agrees.
“If Egyptians believe the elections are going to be rigged from the get-go, they are unlikely to be angry enough to protest them.
“Blogging and Twitter are ‘tools’ for spreading information, and in that regard they are effective indeed, since they guarantee the quick dissemination of information, faster than any other tools like print press for example, says Hossam El-Hamalawy, of the blog Arabawy.org.
While Twitter is useful in breaking urgent news, there is always a chance that tweeted information may not be entirely correct.
According to Radsch, “many journalists in the Egyptian media do not trust new media like blogs and Twitter because they equate them with activism, not objectivity. To a certain degree, this sentiment currently prevents information available on Twitter and on blogs from being spread to more mainstream media sources.
The influence of internet media is also restricted by the resources found within a country. Internet penetration in Egypt is estimated at 13 million users in a country of 83 million, while in Iran, internet users are estimated at 23 million in a country of 66.4 million. Literacy rates between the two countries also differ. The United Nations Development Program 2008 Report places Iranian adult literacy at 82.4 percent. Egypt, in contrast, has a literacy rate of 71.4 percent.
Iran’s blogosphere is one of the largest and most active in the world. A report from Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society places the number of blogs in the Arab Middle East at 35,000. This is compared to an estimated 60,000 blogs found in the Iranian blogosphere – almost twice the size of the entire Arabic blogosphere.
Sherif Azer, who hold a masters degree from the American University in Cairo on online activism, admits that there are far more internet users in Iran.
But unlike Iran, “we don’t have any censored websites. The government sometimes suspends the Kefaya website and such, but it is more open. Whatever goes on the internet is still there.
Such is the case of Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, sentenced to four years in prison for the content found on his blog. Amer’s blog, which allegedly slanders both Islam and the Egyptian president, is still available on the internet today.
Reflecting on the future
Azer predicts that the Egyptian internet will remain uncensored for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. He also believes that any response by the Egyptian government will not match the intensity of the Iranian crackdown.
“Initially maybe they will arrest two or three bloggers to send a message, but they won’t use this extreme method like Iran – unless the bloggers are really changing the outcome of the elections, he says.
Online media’s ability to affect elections and mobilize protest in Egypt is still contested by analysts and bloggers alike. “The role of social media has been inflated in the case of Iran, and they do not play a ‘central’ role in ‘organizing’ protests in Iran, says El-Hamalawy.
“Social media’s main role is dissemination of information. And this is true in the case of Iran, as well as Egypt.
Ziada, an outspoken supporter for the Iranian protesters, admits that blogging and Twitter alone cannot change the status quo.
But, she adds, the “internet is a supporting tool that plays an undeniable role in making activism successful.
Though the future role of internet media is unclear, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs have already become important tools for Egypt’s previously unheard voices. According to Faris, “We are living through a revolution in what it means to be a journalist, what it means to develop and consume news, and we have no idea who is going to end up in the palace after that revolution.
