Tag Archives: media

Free At Last, Free At Last: Libya (Post 5)

Ebola in Morocco (Post 3)

Ebola was a wide spread disaster in America just a few weeks ago and already we seem to have forgotten about it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Ebola, previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus strains. Ebola can cause disease in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees)…The natural reservoir host of Ebola virus remains unknown. However, on the basis of evidence and the nature of similar viruses, researchers believe that the virus is animal-borne and that bats are the most likely reservoir. Four of the five virus strains occur in an animal host native to Africa.”

The reason I felt this was important to post about this topic under media structure was after reading the article “Africa: Ebola Deals a Blow to Morocco’s Africa Plans” I noticed the government influence on the subject. Morocco wants to post-pone the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament which would have taken place mid-January through early-February of next year because of the fear of Ebola. This has enraged soccer fans in Africa.

It seems strange that the government, which is willing to host other large events in Morocco would be opposed to something that would surely bring attention, tourism, and stimulation to the land. According to the article “Doctors, experts and representatives of non-governmental organisations present in the Ebola-affected countries earlier this month spoke about this issue during a discussion entitled ‘Unpacking the impact of Ebola on health systems and regional Integration,’ held at the University of the Witwatersrand medical school in Johannesburg on 11 November. The panic around Ebola is fueled by the high mortality rate, but there are many misconceptions about how it is spread, they said.” Notice that only non-governmental health officials have spoken out on the topic.

Is this an example of the governments control of the media? Will the people in charge of posting this article come under fire for exposing a truth the Moroccan government might not want people to know?

For your entertainment, posted is a video of what the African Cup of Nations was like in 2014.

Sources:

http://allafrica.com/stories/201412031326.html

http://rt.com/news/203595-african-cup-ebola-morocco/

http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/about.html

From Morocco to the United States

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French Montana is known by most Americans as a rapper, and that’s true. But what many people aren’t aware of is that French, born as Karim Kharbouch, was born in Morocco. He spent the first thirteen years of his life with his family growing up by Casablanca, Morocco. His family then moved to New York.

French Montana never had it easy, which is something that many rappers are known for; but he has a different story. His family struggled for money, even for food at times. When his father moved back to Morocco, French, his mother and little brother stayed, leaving him to do what he could to provide for his family. More recently, he was shot in New York. But what really makes him different? Why couldn’t French Montana find success in Morocco?

I have attached a video that shows the rapper discussing his roots in Morocco.

In this video, and many other interviews with him, he makes it clear that there wasn’t much opportunity in Morocco. But for French, rapping in Morocco was a childhood hobby. If rapping was so common, why was there such a struggle in terms of reaching success?

Personally, I believe the lack of media and lack of freedom, especially when he was younger, was the number one factor is making it difficult to succeed in Morocco. While of course there are many other factors for the struggle, I think the media is a greatly underrated cause behind the lack of opportunity for both youth and adults. Without media, the population lacks not only knowledge of opportunities, but these opportunities can’t even exist in the first place, because whoever is controlling the media and keeping this information private, is also preventing these opportunities from existing.

Financially, Morocco is much different than the United States, and I understand the difficulty of succeeding, especially in the entertainment industry, when people are struggling to afford their everyday lives. But it is interesting that not many people consider freedoms, the media and culture when looking at cases like these.

I think it’s useful to use French Montana as an example because it shows a public figure in American but gives detail and knowledge about Morocco from media to the culture. What would French Montana’s life be like if he had stayed in Morocco?

Source: http://www.thefader.com/2012/09/25/french-montana-homecoming

#Twitter in Libya and Morocco

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Twitter is one of the most popular social media apps in the world. People everywhere have become accustomed to getting their daily news in quick, condensed bits consisting of only 140 characters. Research conducted by Portland Communication in 2011 revealed that 68% of people in Africa used twitter to monitor the news within their region. Libya had 3,096 Twitter users and Morocco had 745,620 Twitter users.

Research conducted by Portland Communications: Twitter Activity of Africa in 2011.

During the Libyan revolution, the government shut down traditional media and the Internet in an effort to quiet the public unrest. Individuals took it upon themselves to spread the information about current events. Twitter replaced the previous method, which was word of mouth via telephone. Twitter became one of the most reliable news sources due to Gaddafi’s manipulation of the media. This also led to the rise of social media in North Africa.

Libyan protesters took to Twitter to win over supporters and combat the patriotic propaganda that Gaddafi and his supporters were constantly broadcasting to the public. They spoke the truth about what was going on and basically had a running play-by-play of the events of the revolution. When the government failed to tell the truth, the people made sure that the correct message was out there. A popular site for protesters to visit was libyaFeb17.com, a site where various twitter posts and media related to the Libyan revolution were congregated.

The social media impact during the Libyan revolution was so great that the New York Times was quoted to say, “Whichever side wins this media battle will probably be well on the way to ruling the country.”

Morocco was ranked 5th in Twitter users in 2011. The social media site was extremely popular among younger people in the 20-year-old range. These people will grow older with Twitter and continue to drive the growth of the social media revolution. The Portland research report also showed that most tweets were coming from cities, which makes sense because that is where the most people are, and probably a good amount of the tweet-worthy activity.

The study was conducted once again in 2014. This time Morocco and Libya do not appear on the map. This could be because they are not the most populated cities in Africa and thus do not have as much Twitter activity to be monitored. However, it will be interesting to see how the social media landscape changes as time goes on. It is inevitable that Twitter use will continue to grow and spread throughout North Africa. The link to the study is included here.

Sources:

http://www.reinventinglibya.org/blogging.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/world/middleeast/24iht-m24libya.html

Click to access How-Africa-Tweets.pdf

http://www.portland-communications.com/publications/how-africa-tweets-2014/

http://www.ibtimes.com/twitter-exploding-africa-continents-growing-middle-class-demands-adidas-gear-samsung-1575882

http://libyafeb17.com/

Media Systems Take Libya (Post 1)