Egypt's protest down to good ol fashion 1st gen social media - Television

David training videojournalists in Cairo on a 3 year programme

As a journademic - an academic and professional onliner/ videojournalist I shouldn't be so hasty, but as I write this, hundreds of academic papers are about to be set in train.

The subject matter- prescribing Web 2.0 and social media as the agent for change in Egypt. It's time to be cautious.

For the last three years I have been in and out of Cairo;  last year also taking in Beirut training professional journalists in videojournalism and an understanding of online media.

The latter has spawned a citadel of an industry and while there's no denying the impact blogs, FB, Youtube and Twitter have had, yet often we fail to realise perception like belief is interpretive and selective. This is an Aristolean notion.

David speaking to the Deputy Dean of Communications at Cairo University about the impact of 

social media

The way we see the world is formulated through our own framework of perception. Empirical studies might tell us otherwise, but collecting that data is often difficult to come by.

But this set of stats did catch my attention. Its January figures revealing the Middle East becoming an engine for social media and twitter.

It requires rigorous examination before SM advocates attach cause and effect towards the recent demonstrations.


Television
The protests that emerged in Egypt, a very likely catalyst from Tunisia and the ousting of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power, I would suggest were the result of that old first generation of social media - Television.

What's my hypothesis.  Firstly and less we forget television is still a dominant media and social glue, certainly in particular territories around the world.

It's not uncommon to pass by a diner in Cairo and find swathes of people, mainly men, gathered around the television in the corner, discussing politics and football.

This shot here is of one my trainee videojournalists shooting in an eaterie which has a television and no doubt would have been on to show the Tunisia's events.

Videojourmnalists shooting in the streets

More pertinent, as this picture below illustrates, television is as common place as the homes they're attached to. This shot was taken from the 27th floor of Nile TV - state Television.

It's a restricted floor, but on my last training assignment we were given access. What amazed me as one of the journalists outlined, was the level of sat dishes in areas, including the deprived zones in down town Cairo.

Sat TV City in urban deprived areas of Cairo

Social Media Mk1
International Networks such as Al Jazeera and a host of others are the viewing staple, at least from my observations. This coupled with the mobile phone makes for a powerful social media.

And social it is, for it's around the campfire of the television and mobile phones (temporary immobile) where big society is discussed.  The Net I contend is the echo chamber, at least for the web savvy.

So my hunch from the twitter stats earlier is not that SMers were gearing up for a mass online campaign, but that that more and more users (young or savvy) are discovering Social Media ( a tipping point)  at a rate faster than in territories such as Europe.

That's not surprising as the latter territories reach saturation.

For young people I have come across at the American and Cairo university, yes social media has its currency, but it doesn't appear to possess the same dependencies with other groups as might be the case in advanced net democracies - where you can say what you want.

That's not to say Egypt doesn't have some of the most savvy social networkers around and mobile phone photography is not embedded, but, that if you were a social media trainer, you'd find attentive ears educating outside of the student classes.

David teaching social media to programme makers and graduate producers  at Nile TV

Curiously then in shutting down the net, the authorities had failed to realise TV had done most of the initial work. Postings to the web took the campaign past the geo-locations of Egypt into advanced user bases, where Net content is aggressively shared and played back on television as seen on Sky, CNN, Aljazeera and BBC  TV.

Google and Twitter's voice to text strategy at making the web a linchpin is an interesting case of social media reacting quickly to integrate events but in reality, again it's mainly the student/urban classes.

Here's an interesting question then. If you're a TV network exec and you know this, how do you  maintain the level of interest in television at a time when apple and google are looking to get in on sat platforms with net videos et al.

Because there's still strong evidence that television's narrative of informing, rather than YouTube's pick and mix is still a big draw, particularly for those who find wading through videos for something appropriate a bind.

Is there a future therefore for social media and videojournalism in what I might call fixed and opt in programming? One that can work just as well on the television set as it does online?

More on that in my next post.

hard nosed video journalism reporting

Dave Lee - extraordinary blogger posted this below - a great conversation piece for the heart of coal-face video journalism.

I have posted a response below which I hope opens up the debate about video journalism-on-the ground.

Dave Lees Blog

The best reporting at the US elections, from an unlikely source

Back in January of this year I wrote a review of Gnooze, a quirky news site featuring the wonderful Marta Costello.

I remember thinking “she’s really on to something” back then. In a typical late-night surfing session, I decided to check in on Marta. See what she was up to. I wondered what she made of the elections.

I found this incredible report. Watch it. To the end. The final few scenes really are gripping stuff.

My response:

Strong story.

What makes it work?

A few things:

• Getting dirty ie huddling into the story, something photo jos do time and time again, and it may seem odd, but the stanza of video journalism, “getting down and dirty” is closer to photojoing than news broadcasting.

• Staying with the story - Many broadcasters will be working to a deadline show so will only be able to parachute in and out.

• A good VJ team would stay with the story, they do; a good VJ swarm team would “swarm and tag” the story from many quarters.

• Being fearless and discreet, where possible - smaller cameras give you greater cover.

• Intending to go off the beaten track of the news agenda - though you prob wouldn’t know the majors weren’t covering this till you got down there or enquired from the organiser.

Broadcasters WILL miss stories. VJims strongest asset is a combination of covering “Non news agenda” but also how the film is produced ie the exposition.

VJS strength

One aspect of the shoot is what we call “open wide”. It requires a fearless quality, good picture/location judgment and a steady hand from the shooter because the action’s unfolding before your very eyes.

Then the construct kicks in. e.g. some of the VJs I work with would have been trying to track the flight of the gas canisters. It’s the “verb” - the action thing that has a profound effect. Requires good whip pan tracking.

Also the presenter here conveys a good sense of what’s going on. She’s not afraid to brave it; something forcs ( foreign correspondents) , and yes some domestic reporters do more often in troubled spots.

Interestingly and lets not take away from the fact it’s strong “theatre”, but Dave you said it yourself ” The final few scenes really are gripping stuff”.

But how do you get to those scenes, the chronological way or strongest pics ( agency approach)

The options for the team was a slow build up in which case the cue could have hinted at later. Or to reveal a slice of what happens and then build backwards to reveal the dénouement .

I’ll go have a look at their site, because having done this, there’s some great follow ups to get.

Great stuff

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p.s latest addition to the post, the wonderful Marta Costello should learn the basics of shooting. She's talented plenty enough from what we see. However, the conventional route of reporter/ camera person is an achilles here, at least a major part at the end.

There were a couple of characters we could have gone back to during the riots, but the camera person did not have that immediate option, as he reaction from Marta was required. If Marta could film herself here this would have freed up the camera operator.

to get immediate reaction elsewhere.

p.s I have wanted to fold some of my deeper thoughts as well many newspaper, magazine articles and things like deep video, and managing story chaos into a manageable book.

Hopefully I'm a step nearer because of the fantastic Hillman Curtis. Once again Hillman thanks ever so much.

And thank to everyone else. I'm likely going to pull the plug on this blog soon, as I concentrate on a number of projects, one of which may well be looking at blogging itself.