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An adverse consequence of the Big Foot instinct to see Egyptian politics as an arena for personalities rather than institutions was a confused picture about what was at stake in these protests. Were they designed to remove Hosni Mubarak the man? Or were they in opposition to the Mubarak regime? When anchors try to answer that question by seeking out individual political leaders for interviews they end up misleading viewers about the mechanism by which power operates in Egypt's police state. This week we have seen the regime operate in five separate manifestations, receiving varying levels of scrutiny, with almost no explanation as to their coordination, or lack of it.
First, the networks have failed, so far, to file a single story about the military intelligence apparatus controled by Vice President Omar Suleiman, the newly-appointed power behind Mubarak's throne. CBS' Elizabeth Palmer reported on a self-styled Committee of Wise Men, who had proposed leaving Mubarak in power as a figurehead with the parliament dissolved and Suleiman in charge pending elections. Yet she offered no details about either Suleiman's power base or his allegiances--apart from calling him Mubarak's "intimate."
Second, a thumbs up to CBS' Palmer for her profile of the 468K-strong Egyptian military as an autonomous political and economic actor, one-third funded by the Pentagon. London-based Palmer used leaked State Department cables as part of the source material for her story, without crediting WikiLeaks.org. Here is Palmer's account of her symposium with WikiLeaks.org founder Julian Assange last November.
Third, Palmer's colleague Lara Logan retraced disgust at the repressive role of the secret police as a key organizing element in the #jan25 protest movement. She took us back to Alexandria last June when Mubarak's agents pummeled Khaled Said to death for posting an incriminating videostream on YouTube, showing corrupt police pocketing the spoils of a narcotics bust. CBS' Logan called Said "a middle class businessman;" NBC's Ron Allen labeled him "a 28-year-old blogger."
Fourth, the commitment of the armed forces not to use force to intervene in the Tahrir Square protests was a double-edged sword. It meant that the masses could assemble peaceably on Tuesday and on Friday; but it also meant that pro-Mubarak forces could attack the protestors unmolested on Wednesday. NBC anchor Brian Williams replayed the play-by-play commentary he filed for MSNBC from his hotel rooftop with correspondent Richard Engel of the nightlong streetfighting that ensued. "It's Mad Max!" he exclaimed. Army tanks then broke their pledge of non-intervention by laying down a smokescreen to separate the two sides. NBC' Engel noted that the intervention occurred after anti-regime forces had gained the upper hand and the smoke allowed pro-regime forces to retreat to safety.
Fifth, when those horsemen and camel-jockeys rode into the crowd, some reporters were unequivocal that they were an arm of the regime; others swallowed the regime line that they represented an authentic, grass-roots counter-protest. NBC's Engel was most direct, calling them "goon squads disguised as supporters" and reminding us that Mubarak often used such non-uniformed enforcers "to stuff ballot boxes and forge elections." Marie Colvin, the battle-hardened, eyepatch-wearing, war correspondent for London's Sunday Times assured CBS anchor Katie Couric that "they were bused in; some of them were paid; quite a few are government employees. That simply does not happen in Egypt without official sanction." On ABC, David Muir neutrally called them "pro-Mubarak demonstrators," treating the idea that the attack had been orchestrated by the regime as a he-said-she-said debate, attributing the allegation to the convictions of the beaten protestors.
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