Quite recently, I learned about Andy Carvin, journalist and news DJ. So naturally, (or maybe because I had to) I began to read his book “Distant Witness” which details how he navigated the social media realms to report what was happening with Arab Spring. Paying particular attention to Carvin’s detailing of the Libyan revolution, I learned quite a few things.
Libya took some bold measures, including publicizing the start date of their revolution (#feb17). What’s even more bold is the fact that Libya’s “leader”, Muammar Gaddafi, thought that the threat was “too ludicrous” to take seriously. I suppose after nearly 42 years as a country’s leader, I’d think it was pretty outlandish too!
Next interesting piece that I learned: Carvin did all of his reporting of Arab Spring from the comfort of his home in the states! Knowing your way around social media gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “telecommuting“. At the start of Libya’s uprising, Andy Carvin knew of no reliable Twitter sources in that area. Not one. Through source checking and multiple confirmations, Carvin found one reliable tweeter, which lead him to a whole host of Twitter users accurately depicting the scene in Libya! Imagine that! Suddenly Carvin had news sources on the ground in Libya, without ever speaking a word to them, or seeing their faces. Sometimes he didn’t even know their true names! This group of interconnected sources would be vital to Andy Carvin’s coverage of the Arab uprisings.
Some of the more impressive work began when Gaddafi cut off Internet use in the country. Somehow, citizen journalists found ways to broadcast what was going on, to the entire world, through videos, tweets, photographs, and simple sound bytes. These eye-witness sources were easy to confirm when video was involved. Photos were a different case. It often took many of Carvin’s Twitter followers to debunk photoshopped scenarios, or get to the truth behind a snap shot in time.
At one point, a misidentified symbol made the difference between “the Israelis are aiding Gaddafi by supplying weapons” and “flare rounds with parachutes were deployed during night fighting”. Twitter followers took to the Internet to debunk the rumors flying globally about Israel, and other outrageous claims.
One thing that completely caught me off guard is the sense of community that Arab Spring created in the Twitter world. We all understand the disconnect that happens on social media. People tend not to think as much about the person sitting on the other side of the words that they type. For some reason, this was not the case with Carvin and his Twitter correspondents, especially during Libya’s revolutions. When one of the correspondents in Libya lost their life, it was like a rally cry. More determined than before, banded together to finish what the deceased had started. Carvin himself described the feeling as “the loss of a close friend, not someone I had never even met before.”
In all of the madness that had ensued, Andy Carvin found a way to bring the truth to the forefront, for everyone to see and read. I still have two burning questions:
- Did he ever feel like hopping on a jet to cover the action up close and personal?
- What drives a man to stay awake for the many, many hours that he did? Sheer will power? High (and dangerous) intake of caffeine? A sense of duty to report?
Fortunately for me, Carvin is still extremely active (obviously) on Twitter, and I’ll just shorten my questions to 140 characters and ask him myself.
Reported.ly is a group of journalists (including Carvin) that reports in this “news DJ” style. The current news that Carvin and Reported.ly are talking about is honestly difficult to follow. There’s just so much going on! There’s the attacks on Paris. Suicide bombings in Lebanon. A human rights defender being jailed in Egypt.
The crazy thing is how many of these things I haven’t heard in mainstream news. Maybe it’s my ignorance. Maybe I’m not looking in the right places. But maybe, Andy Carvin and Reported.ly are doing an amazing job and listening to the locals and getting to the bottom of the story. I, for one, would like to argue that it’s the latter of the options.
All in all, the “Distant Witness” chapter on Libya’s uprising turned out to be a pretty worthwhile read. I will continue to read the rest of the book (as you should all do). Also, go ahead and follow Andy Carvin (@acarvin) and Reported.ly (@reportedly) on Twitter. It’s worth it.
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