
4. Don't blame the media; change the narrative.
Occupy Wall Street's supporters have continually criticized both the dearth of media coverage of their movement and its dismissive tone. "The media has begun dismissing the protesters, calling them delusional, childish hippies," Elshamy says. "This is actually very similar to here in Egypt when the media portrayed protesters as thugs or foreign agents who were getting paid and had other agendas." At one point, Egypt's state media even suggested that the demonstrators were being brought out to the square by the promise of free buckets of KFC.
The crowd took the charges in stride. Vendors began selling T-shirts reading "I am a thug" and fake pamphlets featuring "foreign agendas." The square's makeshift medical tent was renamed "KFC hospital."
Most importantly, Elshamy says, is to be as "neutral and friendly as possible with whatever journalist, no matter where he is from."
"There was a stage in Tahrir, about two months ago [during a sit-in against Egypt's post-Mubarak transitional military government], when protesters started getting really overprotective and would push media away from the square -- especially channels they didn't agree with. Gradually they lost steam and the sit-in in August was dispersed because people were really fed up with it."


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