Egypt: Mayhem, Morsi and the media-video

Examining Mohamed Morsi's relationship with the media and the state of journalism under Muslim Brotherhood rule.

Echoes of 2011 and the intensity of the Arab Spring. The call for change resounding once again from Cairo’s Tahrir Square has brought down another Egyptian leader – this time Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s first democratically elected president. In response, thousands of Morsi's supporters have taken to the streets. The media is at the centre of the story. The Egyptian army’s ultimatum to Morsi was delivered via Maspero – the state broadcast network that has been a political pawn for three different administrations since the uprising began: first Mubarak, then Egypt’s armed forces and, until this week, the Muslim Brotherhood. But it is the independent media landscape that has seen real change. Under Morsi’s 12-month presidency, outlets that supported the Brotherhood flourished while journalists who dared to criticise – or in the case of Bassem Youssef, satirise – the president faced an unprecedented number of lawsuits.