Asleep at the Press: Thoreau, Egyptian Revolt and Nuances of Democracy,
Matthew Crippen
“Asleep at the Press: Thoreau, Egyptian Revolt and Nuances of Democracy,.” Arab Media and Society
Abstract
Synopsis from “Connected in Cairo”: Matthew Crippen investigates the international media’s framing of Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow in the summer of 2013 and questions why much of the Western media – and Al Jazeera – adopted the uniform narrative that the ouster was a coup and a travesty of democracy. Morsi, after all, acted in arbitrary nondemocratic ways and fostered an atmosphere in which his supporters could trample the rights of … [minorities]. Drawing on Thoreau’s notions of civil disobedience, he argues that definitions of democracy implied by international media coverage were narrow, and their logic questionable.
