Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

The Egyptian authorities are revoking the Al Jazeera Network's licence to broadcast from the country, and will be shutting down its bureau office in Cairo, state television has said.

"The information minister (Anas al-Fikki) ordered ... suspension of operations of Al Jazeera, cancelling of its licences and withdrawing accreditation to all its staff as of today," a statement on the official Mena news agency said on Sunday.

In a statement, Al Jazeera said it strongly denounces and condemns the closure of its bureau in Cairo by the Egyptian government. The network received notification from the Egyptian authorities on Sunday morning.

"Al Jazeera has received widespread global acclaim for their coverage on the ground across the length and breadth of Egypt," the statement said.

An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the company would continue its strong coverage regardless.

'Designed to stifle'

"Al Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists," the statement said.

"In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard; the closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.

"Al Jazeera assures its audiences in Egypt and across the world that it will continue its in-depth and comprehensive reporting on the events unfolding in Egypt.

"Al Jazeera journalists have brought unparallelled reporting from the ground from across Egypt in the face of great danger and extraordinary circumstances. Al Jazeera Network is appalled at this latest attack by the Egyptian regime to strike at its freedom to report independently on the unprecedented events in Egypt."

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201113085252994161.html

---

Shit!

Weird delay/repeat thing going on with the live online stream now.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Shit! is right!

The enormity of all this boggles the mind... :wow:

[Dennis Donovan]

27. This is so much like 1989...

The only thing missing is a physical wall to tear down...

[Rhiannon12866]

34. Wish my Dad was here to witness this...

Germany was the first place he wanted to revisit, took a TWA flight into Cairo, and almost took the wrong flight out of there. He saw a lot of history and would have been riveted to this, too... :(

[psychopomp]

2. I've been using Al Jaz as my main source on Egypt

and I'll be the first to admit that they are slanted against the current regime. Hard to blame them after the US targeted their Iraq bureau.

[Turborama]

3. So have I and I'd say they were sympathetic towards the Egyptian people. n/t

[slay]

4. This level of censorship - and the power to accomplish it - should scare everyone

don't think it couldn't happen here. "In case of a National Security Emergency" "Internet Kill Switch". You better believe it.

for now their english website is still up: http://english.aljazeera.net/

Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau
Network's licences cancelled and accreditation of staff in Cairo withdrawn by order of information minister.

more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201113085252994161.html

[Dover]

13. They don't NEED to shut our media down. They OWN it.

Most Americans have no idea just how censored our news is until they go abroad and compare.
Slowly but surely there won't be any independent press anywhere. Control the message...

[lonestarnot]

32. Pathetic isn't it. The press ownership slant.

[FailureToCommunicate]

33. Frank Zappa's song keep replaying in my head: It can't happen here, it can't

It can't happen here
It can't happen here
I'm telling you, my dear
That it can't happen here

And the Mothers reminded us of the American concentration camps built and filled during the Japanese American internment during WWII

[dipsydoodle]

5. Still broadcasting live

:hi:

Sky are too.

[rabs]

6. But is AJ transmitting from Cairo?

All I have seen here in past couple of hours are non-Egypt-related programming. Looks like the feed is originating from Doha.

[dipsydoodle]

10. Still live from Cairo here in the UK

The Army are forming people into an orderly single file queue on their way to this afternoon's protest which is expected to be the biggest to date. That's being done in an effort to screen out the plain clothes CSF carrying clubs and guns.

[Turborama]

11. Updated the OP. News directly from AJ themselves.

Thanks for the update. :hi:

[sabrina 1]

7. Turborama, they seem to be reporting from Cairo again.

They were just speaking to an Egyptian blogger, but now it's gone silent. No, he is back.

The blogger is saying that the looting etc. could be the secret police trying to scare people.

She is asking why they are willing to go out knowing they could be killed.

He says, they know what they want now and are very focused. Sounds like they are not too worried about the army. He is in Cairo.

They also were speaking to a reporter on the ground in Cairo a few minutes ago.

[Turborama]

8. Anything from any AJ reporters in Egypt?

I can't watch now as the wife's watching TV and my connection has slowed down for the live stream.

[sabrina 1]

15. They are talking to a female blogger in Cairo who says they

are not being stopped from entering the Square by the Army, but are being searched and allowed to go through. So, it sounds like the army is just trying to keep away weapons etc. Maybe they know that the police are pretending to be protestors and want to prevent any violence?

They do have someone in Alexandria as they got some pictures from there a few minutes ago and they were talking to a reporter on the ground in the Cairo. No live stream though.

[dipsydoodle]

12. The Army

are pretty much on the side of the population.

The problem there is with the Central Security Force / CSF who are Mubaraks men.

[sabrina 1]

9. They just said they are expecting pictures from Alexandria

soon, so they must have reporters there.

British PM called Mubarak last night, urging him to start transforming his government 'right away'. Germany and France joined Britain and Italy also spoke to him. But they are all talking to him as if he will be staying.

They are just worried about 'instability'. It might affect their bank accounts.

Protestors planning to gather again today.

Looks like they have reporters there, but no live stream yet.

[Turborama]

14. They just reported that the death toll has risen to 150. Sounds like a massacre has begun

And Egypt's regime don't want anyone to know about it.

[sabrina 1]

19. I read that there are reports of bodies in the street.

I believe it was the police, or special forces. The Army has never fired on the people in its history from what I have read.

I wrote an OP on the army earlier http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x302893

I included some links that give some information on what we could expect from them and their role in Egypt.

So far, according to bloggers talking to Al Jazeera, the army is not stopping them from going to protest and now they are reporting that they are beginning to gather again, in Cairo.

[Roci]

16. The Live Broadcast is

done from studios in Doha,Qatar. So the live feed will continue. The content may change. Having watched their English feed for some time, they are quite like American News Nets, in that their content repeats often when live news is not happening.

The Mubarak Government may have given itself a very bad self-inflicted wound by doing this. We can but hope.

[sabrina 1]

17. Here's the latest from AJ's twitterers who are in Egypt:

@evanchill
Evan Hill

Several aspects of the apparent government shutdown of AJ remain unclear, we're all waiting now. No one has come to turn us off. #jan25

So, they have been told not to broadcast, but no one has come to enforce it yet.

.@evanchill ~ The World is waiting as well to see what measures will be used against #AJ! Just legal threats or physical action??

These are Al Jazeera's official Twitterers in Egypt. There are three of them. Hopefully someone will tell Mubarak that this is a huge mistake among so many he has made so far.

[Turborama]

18. Al Jazeera English have studios in Doha, London and Washington DC

They have local bureaus all over the world. Their studio/bureau stuff is live, normally.

They also broadcast regular recorded programs and documentaries, too.

http://english.aljazeera.net/aboutus/

[Ghost Dog]

20. Their live blog just went down, it seems:

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/node/3100

So I'd guess the 'authorities' have entered their Cairo control room. If so, we won't see more from that camera on the balcony, nor any MSM other, probably, today.

Question is, will their verbal reporting also be stopped.

Who else is credibly reporting from the ground? Reuters? The Guardian?

Heh, I knew it. Live blog back now:

11:40 am: Al Jazeera issues a statement denouncing the closure of its bureau in Cairo.

"The Al Jazeera Network strongly denounces and condemns the closure of its bureau in Cairo by the Egyptian government. The Network received notification from the Egyptian authorities this morning.

Al Jazeera has received widespread global acclaim for their coverage on the ground across the length and breadth of Egypt.

An Al Jazeera spokesman said that they would continue their strong coverage regardless:

"Al Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists. In this time of deep turmoil and unrest in Egyptian society it is imperative that voices from all sides be heard; the closing of our bureau by the Egyptian government is aimed at censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people.

"Al Jazeera assures its audiences in Egypt and across the world that it will continue its in-depth and comprehensive reporting on the events unfolding in Egypt. Al Jazeera journalists have brought unparalleled reporting from the ground from across Egypt in the face of great danger and extraordinary circumstances. Al Jazeera Network is appalled at this latest attack by the Egyptian regime to strike at its freedom to report independently on the unprecedented events in Egypt."

[sabrina 1]

22. Thanks for that. See my post below, they were just taken off the air.

Here's the link to the official twitter feed which has three AJ staff on the ground. They just said they were taken off the air, 'by phone'.


http://twitter.com/#!/ajenglish/egyptprotests

[sabrina 1]

21. Okay, it's official now, they are 'off the air'

@AymanM
Ayman Mohyeldin
Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English have just been taken off air in #Egypt (via phone)

That is from 4 minutes ago ~ and it's from AJ's official twitterers so I guess they got the word.

[Paka]

25. Still getting live reports from AlJazeera...

I'm in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

How they are getting out, that's another question.

[dipsydoodle]

26. We're getting them in the UK too

.

[Turborama]

29. Al Jazeera English are still broadcasting in Indonesia, live footage of the main square in Cairo

They must have had a plan B set up "just in case".

[sabrina 1]

28. We were getting some, but they are now off the air.

From Al Jazeera staff member assigned to twitter and on the ground in Egypt:

@nolanjazeera
Dan Nolan
Packing our equipment. We have been kicked out of office. Jazeera only network being shut down according to these guys #Jan25 #Egypt


@nolanjazeera
Dan Nolan
Gov’t agents say they’ve been watching our coverage but also listening to our phone calls. #Jan 25 #Egypt


@nolanjazeera
Dan Nolan
We were just asked why we're only network to show these victims? #Jan25 # Egypt


@nolanjazeera
Dan Nolan
My story from Cairo morgue yest seems to have played a role in all of this. #jan25 #Egypt


nolanjazeera
Dan Nolan
8 guys here. Angry discussion at our live position that’s been bringing u all those dramatic pictures #Jan25 #Egypt

[dipsydoodle]

23. BBC live updates here

1100 The BBC's Lyse Doucet tweets: "Army now checking everyone entering Tahrir Square ...long queues forming ..very orderly #Jan25 #Egypt".
tweet

1058 In Cairo one protester tells Reuters news agency that most of those doing the looting are policemen. "We are protecting the country," Medhat Shaker says. "We arrested a police officer and group of policemen looting and the majority of looters are policemen, and you can ask the military troops if you do not believe me."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/9381309.stm

updates automatically

[barbtries]

24. if you control the media

you are in control. a lesson for the USA as well. this is bad news.

[justiceischeap]

30. I say it's designed so the massacre that's going to happen today won't be televised

There were tweets going around yesterday that Mubarak planned on ending the demonstrations today, no matter how he had to do it.

[bklyncowgirl]

31. If i remember correctly that's what happened before the Chinese moved in on Tiennamen Square

This is not good news.