‘You can’t arrest a virus’: The freedom of expression crisis within Egypt’s response to COVID-19

The article discusses the freedom of expression crisis that characterized the authoritarian response of the Egyptian government to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the case study of the expulsion of the foreign correspondent for The Guardian over contested outbreak data, the article argues that authorities in Egypt exploited the pandemic for political ends by silencing critics and by manipulating the public opinion.

Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Suspicion

Hitchcock guided the inexperienced Joan Fontaine through his first American film, Rebecca (1940), going to great lengths to get her into the mood she needed to be in, and he also inspired and controlled a major performance by Judith Anderson as the vengeful housekeeper Mrs. Danvers while allowing Laurence Olivier to give a merely external performance as the male lead. In the work of Fontaine, Anderson, and Olivier, Rebecca penetratingly surveys different styles of acting, favoring Fontaine but finally letting Anderson dominate with work where she is “doing nothing well” on the surface but with clearly contrasting emotions battling underneath the mask of her face. The Master was mainly let down by the actors in Foreign Correspondent (1940), but he brought out dark undercurrents in the expert comic performances of Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941). Hitchcock used Cary Grant for the first time in Suspicion (1941) as a sexy, irresponsible playboy who may or may not be murderous, and he reveled in Grant’s ability to do or say one thing ambiguously enough to suggest another thing at the same moment.

REVIEW: Documentary records continuing independence struggle in West Papua

The War Next Door, reported by Sally Sara. Foreign Correspondent. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Broadcast: 12 May 2020. 30 minutes. https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/the-war-next-door/12239998 ‘WE GOT to keep on pushing forward,’ sings the band Sorong Samarai, which means from the tip of West Papua, Sorong, to Samari, the island which lies at the eastern tip of mainland Papua New Guinea, Samarai. ‘One people, one soul, one destiny.’

The Future Foreign Correspondent, Saba Bebawi and Mark Evans (2019)

Review of: The Future Foreign Correspondent, Saba Bebawi and Mark Evans (2019)Sydney: Palgrave Macmillan, 120 pp.,ISBN 978-3-03001-667-8, h/bk, €49.99,ISBN 978-3-03001-668-5, e/bk, €42.79

Reporting in Conflict Zones in Pakistan: Risks and Challenges for Fixers

As a backbone of reporting in war and conflicts, fixers offer essential assistance to the foreign correspondent in conflict zones, also in Pakistan. With valuable local knowledge and contacts, fixers can arrange travel to secure entry of foreign correspondents into conflict zones in addition to securing interviews with otherwise unattainable figures, while offering reliable translation services. Pakistani media, despite being one of the largest and most developed in South Asia, remains under the strict control of powerful military establishment and government, while seeming to mirror the overarching government sentiment with a distinct lack of research-based news. Challenging this state of affairs, local journalist fixers seek to conduct research and investigative journalism, making them an attractive asset for western correspondents travelling to Pakistan. Based on data from interviews with local fixers and journalists in Pakistan, this article reveals the many security problems for local fixers in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions in Pakistan. It also shows that the fixers’ rights and interests are not protected by media organizations or the governments. Additionally, fixers face increasing censorship from security agencies and death threats from militants. This study discusses the harsh realities fixers face in the conflict zones of Pakistan where international press lack access due to increasing restrictions imposed by the government, and the violence perpetrated against media workers by the Islamic State and other radical groups, like Taliban and Baloch separatists.