Tahrir Square: MSM Reports What It Wants To, Ignores What It Wants To

By now we are all aware of what the MSM deems as newsworthy in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. We are aware of massive demonstrations demanding that the ruling military generals cede power to a civil government elected by the “people.” For more than a week, protesters have demonstrated against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), a council of 24 generals which, protestors say, has continued the policies and tactics of former president Hosni Mubarak.

But there is much more going on in and around Tahrir Square that the MSM is NOT reporting. For example;

• The Muslim Brotherhood, as is Hamas and Hez’ballah, is portrayed by the MSM as a peaceful, religious organization, just another political party. So when the Muslim Brotherhood staged a rally in a prominent Cairo Mosque, and thousands of its followers shouted to “one day kill all the Jews” and volunteered for “jihad” to liberate all of Palestine, most MSM gave this event a pass. Never mind that it revealed a dark side of the Muslim Brotherhood’s real agenda and cast a cloud over Egypt’s adherence to its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. That picture of the Muslim Brotherhood didn’t fit the favorable perception propagated by the MSM.   See this article by DJ Redman about the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Muslim Brotherhood – Hamas – OWS connection, and this article by Jeff P about the CAIR – Muslim Brotherhood connection and recent activities in this country.
• Two journalists were sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square. Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-born U.S. columnist, said she was sexually assaulted Thursday, November 24, 2011. Caroline Sinz, a reporter for France 3 television, said on Friday, November 25, 2011, that a day earlier she and her cameraman were attacked by young men in the square. Sinz said she was punched, then “subjected to a sexual aggression in front of everyone in full daylight.” She continued, saying boys 14 to 16 years old “tore off my clothes and undergarments” and assaulted her.

• Reporters Without Borders, an international journalism group, issued an advisory to the MSM to not to send female journalists near Tahrir Square, making it clear that last February’s rape of CBS News reporter Lara Logan was not an isolated incident. But that organization was forced to withdraw the statement. According to one Cairo-based woman reporter, sexual harassment has been more prevalent in the past week than during the revolution earlier this year. “I’ve never experienced this much [harassment] in all my time in Egypt,” she said. “Today’s Tahrir Square has a menacing feel. It’s a grittier and dirtier Tahrir than before.”

With their fixation and preference for an end to military rule, the MSM ignored the fate that may await women under Egypt’s new civilian rulers. The MSM has ignored all of the recurrence of sexual assaults in Egypt, and of the Muslim Brotherhood’s hatred of the Jews. Almost anything that does fit the MSM template is ignored.

But that’s just my opinion.