A Decade after the Arab Uprisings: How Protests Coverage Unleashed a New Era of Arab Journalism
Amidst the widespread protests in Tunisia in Jan 2011, Lina Ben Mhenni drove her car on a Friday for five hours to reach the revolting city of Sidi Bouzid. In Sidi Bouzid, her lens captured how security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets. She shot videos, met protesters and their families, and posted her observation on her blog, a Tunisian girl. Her blog, in addition to Facebook, told the events of the Tunisian uprisings that later on changed the fate of the whole region.
Lina Ben Mhenni was one of numerous Tunisian and Arab activists who played the role of citizen journalists and covered the events of uprisings in their countries. Over a decade of uprisings that took place in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, and Lebanon, journalists, and citizen journalists used different tools and platforms to cover the protests and navigate the censorship applied by state and non-state actors. Their platforms varied between mainstream media, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. From 2011 to 2021, these platforms were used by journalists and citizen journalists differently according to the popularity level of the platform, censorship level of the country, and various other factors. This article goes through the tools used by journalists and citizen journalists according to the contexts of different Arab countries. Through a chronological presentation of study cases, the impact of Arab uprisings on the evolution of Arab journalism will be examined.
The Tunisian revolutionary icon, Lina Bin Mhenni, used to articulate her thoughts through a blog where she called for system reform and criticized corruption. “Lina was among several bloggers who used secret nicknames to criticize the Tunisian regime, police brutality, corruption, and Ben Ali’s family,” said Ahlem Nasraoui, a Tunisian activist from Kasserine. Nasraoui was in her early twenties when she observed the events of 2011 through the lenses of Lina Ben Mhenni and other activists.
After the eruption of protests in Sidi Bouzid, activists began using other mediums to report on the protests. “Lina used to write a very long article on her blog, with proofreading and adding pictures and videos,” Ahlem said, “but at that time in the revolution, there is no time to report through a blog because activists needed to report on the spot,” she added.
“I don’t think people are aware of the depths that Lina had to go through to achieve her goal, a goal that was uncertain and perilous at the time,” said Mondher Tounsi, a fellow Tunisian activist and close friend to Lina. “She came from a political family that was already antagonized. She had chronic health conditions that are related to kidney failure. She was a university professor with a recognizable name from past experiences. In short, all the odds were stacked against her and she was extremely identifiable.” To Tounsi, it is easy nowadays to relatively look at the condition at the time when the Tunisian revolution didn’t come to be yet. “It was unprecedented. For all she knew they could be intense events that could turn sour for her with no end goal. Yet, she persisted and that’s what makes her who she is”
To Tounsi, it is easy nowadays to relatively look at the condition at the time when the Tunisian revolution didn’t come to be yet. “It was unprecedented. For all she knew they could be intense events that could turn sour for her with no end goal. Yet, she persisted and that’s what makes her who she is,” Tounsi added.
The pace of events, along with the absence of Tunisian media’s coverage, required activists to post on a medium that is accessible and interactive. Facebook served as a crucial tool for that purpose. “Same bloggers, who were active before the revolution, used to take their car at their own expense and travel to remote cities like Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid to cover the protests there, they resorted to reporting on Facebook for instant coverage while offering an in-depth look for outsiders on their personal blogs,” Ahlem noted.
Besides being a tool for news circulation, Facebook served multiple purposes. A study by Marzouki et al., published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking Journal, showed that Facebook served three main purposes during the Tunisian revolution; political purpose, informational purpose, and as a platform for media.
Political blogs were active in many Arab countries before the Arab uprisings as they shaped an early form of citizen journalism. “To study citizen journalism during the Arab uprisings, one should study how blogging moved to Facebook,” said Dr. Naila Hamdy in an interview, an Associate Professor of Journalism at the American University in Cairo. In her article on Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, Dr. Hamdy elaborates on the active presence of blogs in the region prior to the uprisings. For example, The Kefaya movement in 2005, an opposition movement to Mubarak’s regime, was widely articulated through blogging.
But with the mass Egyptian uprisings filling the Tahrir Square in 2011, the coverage of protests varied between mainly the private TV channels, like CBS TV, and the coverage done by activists and citizen journalists. “Prior to the revolution, the regime allowed a margin of press freedom to media outlets owned by businessmen,” said Ahmed Nagi, an Egyptian writer, and journalist who covered the events of 2011.
“The better coverage during that period was the local for us, which was like CBS TV, a private local channel. We were also following protesters themselves and various other activists who were tweeting and posting on Facebook,” said Dr. Hamdy.
While the coverage of mainstream media was not absent during the uprisings, blogging continued to play a role before Facebook played even a bigger role. “I had my own blog that only lasted for a couple of weeks, I wrote about what’s going,” said Mr. Nagi,” but Facebook created space that is easily accessible for and everyone. It wasn’t like blogging where you have to create a blog and know how to write HTML.”
In their study published in the International Journal of Business Research and Management, Chebib and Sohail elaborate through a theoretical approach on how Facebook’s quality of video-sharing helped protesters take pictures and shoot videos and then upload them. Also, Facebook formed a medium for “Organic Uncensored Unedited Info”, unlike other mediums like TV or newspapers.
Media Censorship and Digital Media: A rising role for Citizen Journalism in Covering Protests and Conflict
Soon after Ben Ali was ousted from Tunisia, a domino effect of mass uprisings was occurring in the region. Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain witnessed series of uprisings before facing similar grim fates that included crackdowns, armed conflicts, and civil wars.
The fall of the Tunisian regime, an unprecedented event at the time, represented the most conspicuous development that led to said domino effect. This occurred at an extremely rapid pace that did not allow for a proper understanding of the different factors leading to them, including the vital role that citizen journalists such as Lina Ben Mhenni played. The model of Lina was followed in Egypt without personifying the Tunisian activists who first reported on the revolution. People shared Lina’s videos on the spot without necessarily paying attention to her background. The same tendency was mirrored in Egypt with the plethora of mobile-recorded videos from activists whose work was recognized afterwards. This is to say that it took some time for a cohesive narrative to be made about those who contributed to informing the masses about the political turbulences that were taking place. In other words, the landscape of journalism was changing in parallel to the political fiasco, and this parallelism only became visible afterwards.
In Syria, the regime controlled the media with a tight grip, with a strong intelligence system that facilitated this process. When the mass protests erupted in March 2011, Syrians had few news sources to follow the coverage of the protests.
State-owned Arab channels, mainly Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, played a significant role in covering the news of the protest, as local mainstream media was controlled and disconnected. “Every Friday, we opened Al Jazeera to see four split screens for every city where uprisings were taking place,” said Maram Mansour, the daughter of a family that participated in the uprisings in Homs 2011. “Like many middle-class families in Homs, we did not have Wi-fi in 2011, so we only followed the uprisings through TV,” she added.
In her article on The International Journal of Press/Politics, Vivian Salama underscores the challenges faced by journalists willing to cover the uprisings. Journalists working for state-owned media were affiliated with the regime’s propaganda, foreign journalists were not permitted to enter the country legally and citizen journalists were at high risk of getting killed or arrested.
Despite the overwhelming limitations on citizen journalists, Al Jazeera heavily depended on the content provided by them. A study by Melissa Wall and Sahar El Zahed, published in Digital Journalism, examined the various forms of citizen journalism practiced during the Syrian uprisings. The authors stated that “Almost all citizen media groups employed Facebook and YouTube as their key online platforms”. Other sites such as Twitter and the live video-streaming platform Bambuser were also regularly used.
The Syrian government was not the only entity to censor media and threaten journalists. Conflict parties like armed rebel groups and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) acted as entities that restricted journalists and citizen journalists from reporting freely. By 2013, ISIS captured the city of Raqqa and declared it to be its capital in 2014. To report on the terrorist acts committed by ISIS, a group of citizen journalists established a Facebook Page with the name Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS).
“ISIS prevented all media outlets from operating in their controlled areas so they can create their own propaganda,” said Abdulaziz Hamza, an award-winning journalist, and Co-Founder of RBSS. “We had to fill that gap and report the real narrative of events to the international media,” he added.
Abdulaziz Hamza was once arrested by the regime and another time by ISIS. The group had members outside Syria, which facilitated the publication of news more safely. Yet, a chain of communication was maintained between the members since the tasks were divided. “The team on the ground collected the info, took photos and videos, and sent it to our team outside, while the team outside analyzed edited, and archived it, and send it to the publishing team,” said Hamza. “Our publication team inside decided whether to publish the material or not based on the situation and security level.”
In parallel to the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria, similar events were taking place in Libya, Bahrain, and Yemen. The uprisings in Libya and Yemen soon evolved into armed conflicts. Political unrest was a common ramification in the region as political analysts anticipated the second wave of uprisings in other different countries. In 2019 the second wave of uprisings took place in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq, and Lebanon
The Second Wave of Uprisings: Intersectionality between Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
When the Algerian Former President Bouteflika presented himself as a potential presidential candidate for a fifth term in February 2019, the Algerian people reflected their opposition to Bouteflika’s announcement through mass-level protests in the country.
“I used to follow the news of Hirak through Instagram and Facebook,” said El Khansaa Medjber, an Algerian activist who participated in the Hirak in 2019.
French-speaking outlets enjoyed a margin of press freedom when it comes to covering the Hirak. “French-speaking journalists were very vocal most of the time using their social media and platforms where some went to jail because of this,” said El Khansaa. “I can see that pattern of French-speaking media talking whatever they want, and given opinions and pushing, while the Arabic speaking media cannot.”
Facebook was also widely used in Algeria for its political content, while Instagram was more visually appealing. “On Facebook, you can find detailed articles, and lives with thousands of people watching, while on Instagram you can find photos with small captions describing the events of Hirak” noted El Khansaa.
In October 2019, the Iraqi people took the streets in Baghdad, Kerbala, and other cities to protest against corruption, unemployment, and lack of basic amenities. The uprisings were faced with tear gas and bullets, leading to dozens of casualties.
During the early days of uprisings, the internet was shut off and journalists were not able to cover the events whether through online platforms or social media outlets. “I used to shoot videos, upload them to a hard disk and look for a place with accessible internet,” said Ahmed Alshekh Majid, an Iraqi journalist who reported for Ultra Iraq website. “The platform I work for was not functioning due to the internet shutdown so I posted the videos through my Facebook account.”
With the ongoing Internet shutdown, journalists had to rely again on print newspapers. “I co-founded an independent newspaper called Toktok, we used to print it and distribute it among protesters to circulate it,” said Majid.
Ahmad Alshekh Majid used to call and SMS his fellow journalists to provide him with the protests updates where he can add them to the print newspaper.
“Facebook was also a medium for reporting, where citizen journalists uploaded videos and shared news of the protests when possible,” Majid notes.
As for Lebanon, a series of civil uprisings also erupted in October 2019 calling for system reform, as they were triggered by the government’s new taxation policies.
Lebanon enjoyed a margin of press freedom compared to other countries in the region. According to Reporters without Borders, Lebanon ranked 101th out of 179.
“I used to open Annahar’s Facebook page when I covered the protests on the ground,” said Paula Naoufal, a Lebanese journalist who worked for Annahar English newspaper, a leading newspaper in Lebanon. “Facebook was a great way, let’s say something big happened, and I would sit down to cover it, and no TV would have started because, by the time they would get there and fix their cameras, we were ahead of them,” she added.
Role of Citizen Journalism in the Region: Questions on Standards and Ethics
With the rise of digital media and the tools that facilitate an easier flow of information, citizen journalism as a practice has been widely questioned in terms of credibility and professionalism. “Citizen journalism has its pros and its cons. But I’m still with traditional media. Because they report one thing wrong, their channel would hold them accountable,” said Paula Naufal, “so there’s accountability in the process with traditional media and I don’t that is the case with citizen journalism.”
Despite the crucial role of citizen journalism in reporting on Arab uprisings and armed conflicts, several incidents of media ethics violations were documented. “During the Arab uprisings many citizen journalists used hate speech, misinformation, fake coverage, and visual techniques of camera angles to make things look bigger,” said Dr. Hamdy.
Diversified content, the easier flow of information, and accessibility can all be crucial advantages of citizen journalism. Yet, several limitations still lie ahead. A study by Ouariachi and Peralta, published on Journalism Practice, shows that the majority of those who covered the Syrian conflict has not received any journalistic training prior to their work. They also expressed that, in frequent cases, there are challenges in accessing sources for their coverage.
Another limitation to citizen journalism is that citizen journalists can have the tendency to adopt populist discourse while they cover, according to a paper by Mythen, published on the Journal of Risk Research. He suggests that this risk can be minimized in hierarchical institutionalized media outlets, as objectivity standards can be more explicitly followed.
A Look at Post-Arab uprisings alternative media: Al Hudood outlet
The Arab uprisings and protests coverage helped shaping the Arab journalism we see in 2021 in several ways, mainly through marking the rise of independent news outlets. Outlets that were founded between 2011 and 2012 like Al Sham News Network and Al Jumhuriya in Syria, and Mada Masr in Egypt still function today despite the shift in the political scenes.
Alternative media is defined by Fuchs, in his paper published in the European Journal of Social Theory, as “small-scale, independent, non-hierarchical” media outlets. Further, such outlets are often formed by citizen journalists or community members to challenge mainstream media, as profit does not constitute a priority for them.
One distinctive model of 2021 alternative media outlets is Al Hudood, a satirical outlet that was founded in Jordan in 2013. Al Hudood covers the political events in the region through a website and pages on Instagram and Facebook.
“One of the main goals for Al Hudood was to challenge and confuse Arab readers who are accustomed to dubious news outlets,” said Issam Uraiqat, an editor at Al Hudood. This comes as a by-product of the website’s satirical yet often confusing headlines that seem believable to many, especially those who are more prone to fall prey to mainstream media rhetoric. As the platform grew, more focus was put into offering valid critiques at the socio, political and economic realities of the Arab World. The need for intellectual mobilization, according to Uraiqat, stemmed from the wave of awareness that was generated by the Arab uprisings and the awakening of bold political discourse.
The peculiarity of Al Hudood rests upon their style in creating satirical content out of real-life events after observing their initial impact and reaction from the masses. In a sense, it is about working around available content to create an alternative narrative.
Such satire, however, cannot fall flat or operate at a superficial level. In fact, Al Hudood’s contributors consist of political activists who are well aware of the topics at hand and who can draw on criticism in an intelligent way that depicts their understanding and outlook on grievances in the Arab World. Additionally, these contributors come from all walks of life and represent a diverse pool of countries, cultures, and belief systems which amplifies the impact of the satirical pieces in transmitting content that is relative to the context it aims to tackle, especially in terms of inside jokes and puns.
Lina’s work did not stop at the fall of the regime. If anything, that was the catalyst that pushed her to continue reporting on the democratic transition and to fight back against perpetual push back and threats to the security of Tunisia. She dabbled in protecting minorities, advocating for a transparent press and freedom of speech during a turbulent time that, according to her friend Tounsi, was not kind to her. Nonetheless, this young Tunisian activist succeeded in cementing her name in the hallways of saluted icons in the country. In fact, Lina was revered both nationally and internationally. She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her bravery during the revolution and amassed many similar accolades from renowned organizations and media networks. And when she passed away on the 27th of January 2020, she did so under a free regime that not only acknowledged her but also celebrated her legacy. A national funeral was held where thousands of Tunisians marched to salute the bravery of who they perceive to be a fierce icon. The presidency of the Tunisian state Kais Saied issued a public statement commemorating Lina’s strengths and paying her respect, saying “ There are women who history does not forget”. The Tunisian Post Office even issued a stamp in the remembrance of her being ‘the icon of the free word’ as designated on the quote under her picture.
This feature story is a part of a capstone project for Multimedia Journalism student Judi Aldalati at the Lebanese American University