For the past month,all eyes have been on the Egypt. Starting with a series of protests and demonstrations in Tunisia,which later threw parts of the middle east and North Africa into a chain reaction of demonstrations and rallies. It is unlikely that anybody has gone through the month without reading or even hearing about the protests. The story has been on front page news for most major media outlets. Now the country that pretty much has been in the spotlight was Egypt. Being a highly populated country and a close ally of the United States,I can understand why it was so closely covered. With the situation mitigated in Egypt,Libya in the past week or so, has taken over the forerunner in the news with their own protests against their government and leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Now protests and violent clashes with people and their government is nothing new,it happens all over the world;but for the events in such countries like Libya, I can think of reasons why the U.S medias are covering this story so closely.
Unlike for example Egypt and Tunisia,Libya is probably the one country that will have a definite impact on average Americans in the weeks and hopefully not,the months to come. Ever since the emergence of the 21st century, the world demand for oil is higher than ever in history and more vehicles are available now than ever before .Now you might say that is a given but then you should know that it is also a given that the U.S is extremely dependent on foreign countries for oil.Libya produces just about 2 percent of the World's oil supply,it may not seem like much of a startling number but the industry of oil production is far more complex than it seems. With the country of Libya in unrest,oil production has once again greatly dwindled, and the 2 percent that come from Libya is considered the highest quality of crude oil on Earth. Experts say if the unrest in the region continues, production of oil may be inhibited and in-turn create a domino effect of a rise in oil prices around the world. This is a great example of the media as an agenda setter. In this instance,stories like this diminish the once feared fragmentation media where people are informed of what interests them rather than what they really need to know.
Furthermore,in the days to come the whole world will be curious to see how this whole scene in the middle east will play out. Violence reached a high when protesters were killed by government soldiers and reports of Gaddafi ordering air strikes on certain protesters. If Muammar Gaddafi steps downs or is overthrown it would see to be a shift in power for Libya's governance for more than 4 decades. In an interview earlier this week,Gaddafi told Jeremy Bowen of BBC that “My people love me” and said “They will die to protect me”.When asked about the protesters in the city,Gaddafi went as far as saying “Where?”.Sure Gaddafi your people love you, but they sure have a funny way of showing it. See the interview for yourself http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12603086 .
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