In a piece of literary reportage, Maurice Chammah explores media coverage of the violence at Egypt’s state-television headquarters on October 9, 2011, illustrating the growing gap between state-owned and independent media and raising concerns about the blurring line between independent journalists and activists in post-revolution Egypt.

Maurice Chammah analyzes the thinking behind the Islam-oriented music television channel 4Shbab, noting contradictions in its vision of the interaction between Islam and the West. He looks at the audience which 4Shbab assumes already exists and the audience which it hopes to create, and discusses Western media reactions to the project.