Anderson Cooper Leaves Egypt

Anderson Cooper announced on Saturday that he is leaving Egypt after a week in which he and his crew were repeatedly targeted by supporters of President Hosni Mubarak.

He tweeted, "It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to leave #Egypt. CNN continues to have many teams in place. It was a hard decision to leave."

Cooper was attacked twice by pro-Mubarak forces. On Tuesday, he was punched in the head repeatedly. On Wednesday, the window of the car he was in was smashed through by a rock. He was forced to go into hiding and report from a secret location.

Cooper is the latest high-profile American journalist to leave Cairo this week. Katie Couric and Brian Williams both returned to the U.S. earlier in the week.

Comments

[Sable Lawson]

08:26 PM on 02/10/2011

I read in the National Enquirer that the muslims hated anybody that were american reporters but singled cooper because he was gay.They have death goon squads after him. Sadly,cooper did get beat down I dont blame him for leaving.

[NC2]

06:44 AM on 02/09/2011

The high profilers scatter like cockroaches when the going gets a little rough.

[greatness891]

05:41 PM on 02/08/2011

Amanpour, is she still there?.

[MTmel]

11:32 AM on 02/08/2011

As a kid growing up in the midwest, nightly reporting from the Vietnam war became a part of life. Journalists then put themselves in the middle of things and (thankfully) the networks allowed reality to be shown.

Too bad the corporatization of the news media prevents this from happening any longer. Maybe if people had to face what is happening around the world in more real terms night in and night out over their dinner plates like we did some of this nonsense would end.

[FCorey]

06:10 AM on 02/08/2011

I don't blame him. At least he had the nerve to try.

Most of you wouldn't have.

[Abelardo Perez]

08:45 PM on 02/07/2011

this guy is the bravest man alive!

[ethiopia1a]

02:59 PM on 02/08/2011

i doubt it lol

[ChristopherJones]

04:08 PM on 02/07/2011

He could at least wear a hat to cover up that big silver beacon.

[stape45]

12:38 PM on 02/07/2011

New Rule: Not welcome? Not needed? DON’T GO.

[HankyJoe]

11:28 AM on 02/07/2011

Christiane Amanpour led an interesting round table discussion on Egypt yesterday. If you haven't seen it you should. I do wish she had given the one Egyptian reporter who seemed pro Muslim Brotherhood more time to speak. I'm not Pro Muslim Brotherhood but I do believe everyone should be heard.

[gransview]

01:29 PM on 02/07/2011

(You would never make it here as a MODDDD, then!)

[LeoChild]

11:22 AM on 02/07/2011

He never should've went in the first place.

[Dare Taiwo]

10:43 AM on 02/07/2011

I am not a fan of Mr Mubarak but I have to say this - the Media has been overly partisan in reporting the unrest in Egypt. To the uninitiated, It will look as if the whole of Egypt is on fire.

Egypt is a Country with more than 80million Inhabitants. If 1million Egyptians want Mr Mubarak to go, may we know the demand of the remaining 79million Inhabitants?

Good Journalistic ethos recommends that the two sides of a Story should be disseminated to enable the listeners and viewers make informed decision. In this case, we only hear from People in Tharir Square, not even the whole of Cairo; Alexandria and Suez.
May we know the feelings of the People in Port Said, Marsa Matruh, Marsa Alam, Aswan, Medinat Al-Fayoum, Luxor, Beni Suef and other Egyptian States?

The tacit call by most News Media in America and Europe for the Military to intervene in Egypt has shown the hypocrisy of Journalists on these Continents. How can anybody in his senses be recommending for military takeover of a sovereign state.

[Charles Shackelford]

01:18 PM on 02/07/2011

You make some compelling observations. The problem with supporting dictators, benevolent or not, becomes apparent when these uprisings occur by the disenfranchised. Because they play political ball, allow us to have our rendition (illegal) abductees tortured there and ensure the transport of our oil through their canal, does not really make them our ally. The problem is that our political relationships are with such governments and not very sensitive to the issues of the population. I think we all assume that the great burden of poverty in Egypt would indicate a desire for change given the various parties vying for position, and we are ignorant given the absurd coverage in the mainstream media, but where is the other truth to be found? I agree about military intervention being a disaster and in fact our support for the Egyptian military to date limits our sphere of influence with the vast majority of Egypt's people. Maybe we should just mind our own business and be helpful of legitimate political parties as they emerge if we truly support democracy, as we say we do.

[Rainiermec]

01:21 PM on 02/07/2011

The right wing needs a new war. They are doing thier best to stir the pot.

[bridgeman]

10:16 AM on 02/07/2011

he should stick to covering hurricanes...its safer

[greysells2]

09:42 AM on 02/07/2011

Tough assignment. Take a few days off and get back behind the wheel as soon as you can.

[themainpoint]

11:02 PM on 02/07/2011

Sounds like you just can't wait for some more pf that corporate-owned news spin.

Nice of CNN to mix in something closer to real reporting to maintain a little credibility.... but as far as I'm concerned, corporate owned news shills should all be replaced by real journalists who report key issues (such as highlighting the behavior of Egypt's leader whom we subsidize BEFORE three decades of suffering under him and before uprisings must occur.

It would also be nice to have real facts about imaginary WMD bankrupting wars that kill hundreds of thousands BEFORE the war has already started.

Maybe some reporting on things like huge, fraudulent mortgage bubbles that melt down millions of jobs would be nice BEFORE the no-strings bailout and meltdown are already in the pipeline.

Glenn Greenwald has a great article on our daily diet of spin:

"they [US media articles on Egypt] have the effect of manufactur­­ing the appearance that such problems exist only Over There, but not here. One would never, ever find in The New York Times such a sweeping denunciati­­on of the plutocrati­­c corruption and merger of private wealth and political power that shapes most of America's political culture."

If you like facts, the rest is here:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/

[Gracie fr]

09:36 AM on 02/07/2011

Extolled in Haiti, undone by Egypt. International reporting has strange consequences. Is there a Keith Olberman backstory we are not being told?

[dinglebe]

09:11 AM on 02/07/2011

With his tail between his legs and his eyes closed.

[gransview]

01:31 PM on 02/07/2011

not really

[Mattie]

10:10 PM on 02/07/2011

I don't see it that way at all