

What if Tunisia had a revolution, but nobody watched? - gregory80
http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2011/01/12/what-if-tunisia-had-a-revolution-but-nobody-watched/

======
jdp23
Ethan had a followup a couple days later at
[http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2011/01/14/brocks-
insight...](http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2011/01/14/brocks-insights-on-
the-tunisia-media-attention-disparity/)

Josh Shahryar also had a great piece on Enduring America on Friday, after Ben
Ali fled the country:

"Today, as dismayed as I was, I got an answer to my question: What happens
when the media ignores a revolution? Sometimes,the answer is: Nothing. The
media can help mobilize support for victims of earthquakes like the one in
Haiti. The media can also help create an atmosphere where people can feel that
they should care about those overseas. But, when the media refuses to cover a
revolution, it really does not carry any impact.

That’s what people in Tunisia proved today by forcing their dictator to jump
ship and leave the country. In a few hours, those US outlets who paid no heed
will tell you how important it is that, for the first time in decades, a
country in the Middle East has forced out an autocrat. Then you’ll have
analysts telling you how important it is for US interests that this wave
continues or maybe doesn't continue. There will be cute little graphs that
Anderson Cooper can pull around on those big computer screens. Hey, it’s all
going to be happening!

But this will be too late. The mainstream will not be part of the global wave
of online support who witnessed a ground-breakingly inspirational event that
will live on in memories for years to come and that could influence views on
the Middle East, democracy, and human rights for decades."

More at [http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2011/1/14/tunisia-
specia...](http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2011/1/14/tunisia-special-what-
happens-when-an-uprising-is-ignored-sha.html)

~~~
barredo
Well, to be fair, Al-Jazeera played a somewhat important role (but lesser than
mobile phones and self-organization) on Tunisia's movement.

And we can all agree that Al Jazeera is 'media'

------
maxklein
I believe the issue is more than Tunisia is not a country of interest, even
for people who are interested in foreign policy. Take a look at the average
person who actually follows foreign news - countries like Iran, Brazil,
Argentina, Egypt rank much higher than Tunisia, Botswana, Azerbaijan, Guyana.

Some countries have just been in the news more, so have been noticed more and
have more 'fans' or interested observers than others.

Even for the educated crowd here, if I said that the government of Sao Tome
had been overthrown, that would be a lot less interesting than if I said the
government of Libya had been overthrown.

~~~
cdavid
That's most likely an American bias. In Europe, it has been followed quite
heavily, especially of course in France: Tunisia is very close to Europe, and
there are strong ties between several European countries and Tunisia
(political and economical).

It is also the only country from Northern Africa ("magrheb") which is secular,
with all the ensuing geopolitical consequences w.r.t. terrorism of islamic
ideology. That's one of the main reason why European union supported Ben Ali
quite heavily (EU represented 2/3 of international trade for Tunisia).

~~~
mtalantikite
Secular in what way? The Tunisian constitution states that Islam is their
official religion and that the President must be Muslim. Religious freedom is
granted by their constitution, and 99% of the country practices Islam.

Algeria might be considered more secular. When the Islamic Salvation Front won
the first rounds of the Algerian elections in 1991, the military took control
of the government in order to stop Algeria from becoming an Islamist state
under sharia law, which caused the civil war. The Algerian constitution also
states that no political party may be formed if it is "based on differences in
religion, language, race, gender or religion". Still, 99% of Algerians
practice Islam.

~~~
cdavid
You are right that Islam is the official religion. But I don't think it means
much.

Tunisia encourages women working in official positions _not_ to wear the hijab
in public places. Same restrictions for men. Indeed, you could say that the
rules is stricted than in France (the most violently anti hijab of my friends
are Tunisian muslims). It is only of anedoctal value, but within most of my
friends who are muslims, most of the ones not practising the religion at all
(eating pig, drinking alcohol) are of Tunisian descendant.

You are the first person that I know who claim Algeria is more secular than
Tunisia. I would be curious to know what you are basing it on, the fact that
the military took control does not mean much: what matters is the society.

~~~
mtalantikite
Well I guess i'm more basing it on semantics -- secularity typically is
defined by a state being separated from religion, and I was just pointing out
that Tunisia has explicit mentions of religion in regards to its state and
president, whereas Algeria explicitly states otherwise.

RE: Algeria, I have a lot of family there, and my immediate family travels
back at least once a year. Overall it's a very liberal, secular country,
especially compared to other Arab nations.

------
fxj
it was big news in europe and got a lot of coverage. also because 10000 german
(among french, belgium, british, etc) tourists were in tunesia at that time
and had to be brought back with specially chartered flights. almost everyone
of my friends knows somebody who was stuck in tunesia until today. tunesia is
like florida for the europeans. you go there when you want to enjoy some sun
and beach in the winter time.

~~~
woodpanel
It was indeed big news in europe. but i have to add, that none of the coverage
that i've seen, provided what i wanted to see in it: an urge to support the
protesters. It didn't mention if these protesters were 'the good ones' at all.
and i didn't see any european representative supporting them, at least none in
germany. we use this country as our own florida for generations, but don't
seem to care that their generations have to live in some sort of soft-lybia.

~~~
arethuza
The coverage on BBC Radio 4 this morning certainly made it sound like the
outgoing regime was pretty corrupt and that the protesters had legitimate
grievances. As I am about 90% asleep when listening to the news in the morning
they couldn't have been very subtle about this message.

~~~
woodpanel
Seems to be that the bbc takes a better stand on this. in german tv and radio
50% of the coverage is about the tourists being brought back home. the rest
tends to be focused on the turmoil and chaos, rather than the purpose of it
all.

Also, there ARE european officials siding with the tunesian people:
[http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2011/january/eu-us-
expr...](http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2011/january/eu-us-express-
support-for-tunisian-people-/69943.aspx)

Though, in my opinion, if Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, says
something, it only means that no one else want's to say it.

------
gordonguthrie
I am watching the main evening news on the BBC and it is the lead item (as it
has been for days now).

It was the major multi-page article in all the Sunday Papers here.

~~~
rwmj
I too have been following this on the BBC News (UK) website for several days.
Does it appear on the US version of the BBC website?

~~~
uxp
The American version of the BBC website, bbcamerica.com, is devoted to
entertainment for the most part. Scrolling the top are plugs for The Tudors,
Ramsay's Best Restaurant and Anglophenia.

As far as I know, the BBC News site for us yanks is identical to the version
served to you in the UK. I don't believe bbc.co.uk uses geolocation content
filtering or modification. bbc.com and bbc.co.uk appear to be resolving to the
same address as well.

bbc.co.uk does have "Battles in Tunis as key aide held" as its top story as I
write this, so it is not like Americans are blocked from seeking out
information using the same sources as the rest of the world.

~~~
seabee
Only thing the BBC do is serve ads to non-UK viewers. The website is the same
for everyone otherwise.

BBC America is just a TV channel; that's why that website is entertainment-
based.

------
elvirs
The news are also being intensively covered in Turkey and Russia. It is just
United States media that does not cover the events for some reason. May be
moves toward democracy are not interesting for the States if there is no oil
involved.

~~~
jdp23
George Brock had some interesting thoughts about why this didn't get a lot of
coverage in the US: [http://georgebrock.net/the-power-of-social-networked-
media-i...](http://georgebrock.net/the-power-of-social-networked-media-in-
tunisia/)

------
nraynaud
As far as I know every French newspaper made his first page about Tunisia
since one or 2 weeks.

<http://www.liberation.fr/>

<http://www.lefigaro.fr/>

<http://www.lemonde.fr/>

Spain: <http://www.elmundo.es/>

Germany: <http://www.spiegel.de/>

I suppose that the US media don't focus on news that are not on the national
political agenda and they tend to be more focused on the inside.

~~~
yummyfajitas
It might also be locality. Tunisia is what, 300 miles from France? No matter
how inwardly focused they are, you can be sure US newspapers would cover a
revolution in Mexico or Guatemala.

(Admittedly, CNN would wait until after the revolution had a twitter page.)

~~~
cabalamat
> _It might also be locality._

It is. It is also that Tunisia is a former French colony.

------
csomar
_When authorities confiscated his wares to punish him for selling without a
license, Bouazizi set himself on fire. He died in hospital on January 4,
2011._

That's not true, Bouazizi put his degree in front of his cart, which annoyed
the authorities. So they confiscated his wares. No one really here have a
license for selling fruits.

Edit: I'm a Tunisian (born and living here), if you have any question about
the situation you can ask me.

------
dataminer
The author concluded with "because real change in the world is a rare thing,
and it’s a shame that people would miss the chance to watch it unfold."

I really hope that real change happens in Tunisia, most of the revolutions
even though successful in short term do not bring the real change, because
people falsely assume that removing a single dictator will change the course
of a country, however its only the end of the beginning.

The hard part comes next where the society as a whole has to make a concerted
effort to create independent political and economic institutions which keep
check on each other. Most of the time, specially in Asian and African region,
this step is forgotten and the only result revolution achieves is replacement
of old dictator by a new dictator.

------
kleiba
Could you please rename the title of this post to "...nobody _in the US_
watched?" - the topic is well-covered in European news.

------
natch
The Revolution will not be televised. It had to be said. [Edit: if you missed
the cultural reference, this will bring you up to speed:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS3QOtbW4m0>]

------
troymc
I found out about the events in Tunisia through the Wikipedia homepage, which
lists significant current events.

------
gregory80
the revolts and demonstrations, and even murdering of journalists, continues
to get very little attention in the US media. Despite blogs, social media and
video sharing sites being part of the vehicle of dissent. I wonder if mass
media feels a bit burned by the previous Iran 'twitter revolution' not leading
to a greater outcome.

~~~
johnny22
what is "very little attention" ?

I saw it on CNN at a pizza place a few days ago.

Not saying that people shouldn't talk about it more, but whenever somebody
says something isn't being covered by the "main stream media" I can usually
show otherwise with a quick google search.

Often it is just code for: "Why aren't people caring about this issue that i
care about?"

Not always the case, I'm just tired of hearing people say that.

~~~
norswap
Here in Europe, it sure has been in every newspaper and every newspaper for
quite some days.

~~~
sterling
Here in Paris this is a huge story. In addition, Tunisia is a major source of
programming talent for French companies - if you work on the web in France you
are sure to meet Tunisians on a regular basis. Tunisia is very "real" place
for us.

~~~
rwmj
A former French colony too.

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/French_occupa...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/French_occupation_of_Tunisia)

------
nkassis
It was pretty big news here in Montreal Canada. We have a large tunisian
community(they had a celebration march a few days ago downtown) so the news
did cover it (french CBC did give the story a lot of time) I'd like to see how
this influences the.events in Algeria.

------
kra
I don't get this. The story has been in the NYT every day last week, and it's
been front-page news there since the weekend, with articles on the Wikileaks
cables' relevance and possible similar effects in Egypt.

Was the NYT 2-3 weeks late in giving this story a focus? Were they just
waiting to see if it would become relevant among the US wars and domestic
political violence? Or did they get caught off guard until Al-Jazeera scooped
them? Either way, it doesn't look like they egregiously sandbagged the story,
they were just later to it than they could have been.

------
baby
Well. I don't watch TV. But I guess my friends do. And pretty much everyone is
talking about in facebook status in France.

------
hasenj
As far as I can tell there was (and still is) continuous coverage on all major
Arabic media channels.

