To do great writing, read great writing. Here’s the great writing I’ve been reading this week:
It’s been a dangerous week to be a journalist in Egypt.
According to various news reports, pro-Mubarak forces in Cairo and elsewhere have threatened, detained, even beaten local and foreign journalists reporting on the uprising there.
The Associated Press reported that on Thursday, Feb. 3, two dozen journalists were detained in what the U.S. government called a systematic targeting of reporters who’ve been covering protests calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down after nearly 30 years in power.
By Feb. 3, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit group that promotes press freedoms, said in 24 hours it recorded 30 detentions, 26 assaults and eight instances of equipment having been seized. See the complete list here.
“This is a dark day for Egypt and a dark day for journalism,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon told AP. “Egypt is seeking to create an information vacuum that puts it in the company of the world’s worst oppressors.”
Read more stories:
Journalists attacked by mobs, detained in Cairo (Associated Press)
Al-Jazeera says Cairo office was ransacked (National Public Radio)
NPR reporter, other media targeted in Egypt (NPR)
Video: Anderson Cooper in Egypt: ‘I’m a little bit scared’ (Huffington Post)
Mubarak intensifies press attacks with assaults (Committee to Project Journalists)
Journalists under physical assault in Egypt (CPJ)