❊ Lebanese Online Activism and Shoddy Journalism

Andy Carvin, the celebrated twitter curation machine and an authority on online reporting and news activism is currently in Beirut. When the Daily Star’s Michelle Mathis interviewed him, this is what she wrote in her article:

Lebanon still lags behind in terms of digital activism, despite the fact that elsewhere in the region social media has gone from a convenient way to socialize to a powerful tool for organizing, promulgating and disseminating information, social media expert Andy Carvin said Monday.

This is a damning assessment from someone like Carvin. How could this be? After some digging, I found out that this was simply a matter of misrepresentation by what appears to be a clueless Daily Star reporter.

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/acarvin/status/131214689077174272"]

Carvin explained (again and again) that his position was that he wasn’t an expert on Lebanese online activism, and as such he told the reporter that he doesn’t know enough to comment.

That, apparently, wasn’t exciting enough for Ms. Mathis, so she decided to spice things up for her humdrum daily.

For the record, Lebanon’s online activism is not only vibrant, it’s also effective. It has raised awareness on issues ranging from foreign domestic labor to women rights and LGBT rights, from tobacco control to the speed of the internet.

In many of these issues, online activism played a big role in pushing the government into taking action. And they did all of that using the world’s worst internet connection. They actually deserve a medal.