When I am watching/covering protests, I tend to look out for/listen for certain things.
* Who are the major players in the situation? Who is *describing* the major players in the situation? That is, what is MSM saying about the major players versus what are bloggers, tweeters, locals saying?
* What is the relationship my country (the US) has with the each of the major players?
* How much economic influence has my country had with/have over each of the major players?
* Does my country have a history of intervention in the area in question? (Such that it is official US policy, rather than a situation w/one particular president)–and what outcomes have those interventions had on locals?
* What position is my country taking on the situation at this moment?
* What relationship do all the different players have with each other? Has there been local support of particular players?
* What do local people think of the situation? Is there a way to support what they are asking for? Is it safe to promote their voices?
* Are locals specifically asking for a certain type of help? (i.e. leave us alone! Get out of our country! Act as witnesses! Economic support please! etc)
* What relationship does Main Stream Media have with the area in question? What does most of their reporting center on? What is the general tone of their reporting? (i.e. is it mostly about “the Terrorists!” and “the Problem!” Is there little to no reporting at all on the region? Is it mostly favorable?
* Why are negative stories about the region (i.e. The Islamists might take over! Arabs are racist! They hate Israel!) being run in MSM at this time? Why do certain negative stories become especially popular (It’s just like Iran!)? What are these stories acting in service of?
* Who is being centered in the story being reported on?
* Whose *needs* are being centered in the story being reported on? (e.g. look at how people in Cairo are talking about economic duress, and the MSM in the US is talking about Who Will Take Over and What That Means For the US (or Israel).
* Who is *not* visible in the reporting (i.e. are you only seeing men?)? Who *is*? (e.g. I’ve found it interesting how many MSM stories there have been about women taking part in these protests–which is *good*–but why the difference between MSM representation between women in Afghanistan (who need our help and we must intervene) and women in Egypt (who are leading protests). Why the change in discourse? Especially when MSM has been SO unbelievably dedicated to a *fault* in representing women from the region a very specific way since before the Wars).
And the thing I think is important to point out–I don’t necessarily even have an opinion about the things I consider and notice. I will wait to hear what Egyptian women have to say about how they are represented, for example. And I will just keep certain things in mind so that I have context with *other* issues–like keeping in mind that the US sends billions of dollars to Egypt when considering that Obama seems to be siding with Decency in this situation.
This is not everything I consider–but it’s a lot of it. And it’s stuff I *learned* to consider–the first posts that I ever made about protests were more centered on OUTRAGE–how on EARTH could this fucking HAPPEN!–Now-I think it’s important to 1. frame the situation for readers who are inevitably getting a shitty framing from MSM and/or 2. skill share analytical tools with others who have also been denied the resources to understand specific situations.
What things do YOU keep in mind when watching/covering protests?
the biggest things to me are “what are local people saying?” and “whose needs are being centered here/whose needs are important to center?” but also what is the historical context? of my country’s intervention but also of the people being talked about, of the policies being talked about, etc. i think this post covers so much important ground.
something else to think about is – how can i promote alternative sources of information that might give a bigger/clearer/more nuanced picture? where are those sources coming from? how can i make it clear that that may not be a blanket endorsement of whatever is in those sources/that having alternative and more trustworthy sources of info doesn’t absolve us/me/readers/friends of the process of critical thinking?
oooh, good point w/the last comment a’ishah–I think too often people assume that esp in non-western countries there is no stable media or alternative ways of getting media out to the community/world…and those media type sources will have a much better grasp on safety issues, politics in the region, etc, than even the best western source…
This is hilarious — I was reading the previous post and just about to ask this very question! Digging what’s been said.
One thing I think about is what are the tactics being chosen and used in this protest, what kind of decision-making process(es) went into/ are going into selecting those tactics, what do most people in the region seem to think about the tactics (i.e. what are folks there saying about them, if anything) and the means of selecting or spreading them, and how do the chosen tactics fit into the area’s historical and present contexts? And, from there, how might I think about relating their chosen tactics to struggles and issues local to me, that I’m a part of, in my historical and present contexts?