WHY I DON'T TRUST CNN
Two points to make prior to going into the details on this story that will provide context for what follows.
First, I visited Egypt in November 2011. Well before an impeached President began crying “fake news” anytime facts made him look bad. I also believe that all news, whether that’s the main-stream media, the alternative media, newspapers, cable news, internet bloggers, etc., is fake news. Truth is simply to encompassing of a concept to jam into a news segment or for the masses to digest and so those that deliver the “news” first need to filter what “news” to report and then how to present the “news”. I don’t believe there’s any widespread nefariousness in how this is done but it’s cutting, editing, and pasting of news happens in every…single…article.
Second, Egypt’s must have tourist takeaway is a papyrus scroll. It’s the souvenir gift equivalent of going to Russia and getting nesting dolls. Going to Germany and getting a beer stein. Etc. Each country also has their own set of unique scams. Egypt’s scam is papyrus dealers posing as non-papyrus dealers. And that’s where this story begins.
First, I visited Egypt in November 2011. Well before an impeached President began crying “fake news” anytime facts made him look bad. I also believe that all news, whether that’s the main-stream media, the alternative media, newspapers, cable news, internet bloggers, etc., is fake news. Truth is simply to encompassing of a concept to jam into a news segment or for the masses to digest and so those that deliver the “news” first need to filter what “news” to report and then how to present the “news”. I don’t believe there’s any widespread nefariousness in how this is done but it’s cutting, editing, and pasting of news happens in every…single…article.
Second, Egypt’s must have tourist takeaway is a papyrus scroll. It’s the souvenir gift equivalent of going to Russia and getting nesting dolls. Going to Germany and getting a beer stein. Etc. Each country also has their own set of unique scams. Egypt’s scam is papyrus dealers posing as non-papyrus dealers. And that’s where this story begins.
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There was a diversion to a papyrus shop on my drive to the pyramids. The driver took me to a papyrus art center and I learned the history of how Egyptians began making paper from papyrus in the fourth century BC. It’s an impressive history, essentially the creation of the first paper, and the first time that history could be recorded. At first, I thought, wow this is actually a nice value add by my driver. After the history lesson came the sales pitch—would I like to purchase a papyrus print. Again, I thought, wow these prints are pretty cool but they are also a bit ostentatious. The prints are incredibly unique. So unique that unless you have an Egyptian themed room in your house the prints are going to look wildly out of place. You can put nesting dolls and a beer stein on a bookshelf but a 24” by 36” bright papyrus portrait of King Tut—where would you put it? It would dominate a room.
That's an example of a print to the right. Pretty cool but where would you put one? It took about ten minutes for the art center’s sales staff to give up on trying to get me to purchase a print. |
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Back in Cairo I had three other encounters with papyrus dealers. One claiming to be an archaeologist. Another claiming to run a complementary museum to the Egyptian Museum. A final one who said he went to Michigan State. I was in Egypt to learn about this part of the world and when these men approached me, I thought, ok let’s see where this goes. Each time we walked half a block and boom, we arrived at their papyrus shop. After the third time, I told myself I’m not getting into a conversation with anyone who approached me on the street.
On the last afternoon I was in Cairo I was walking through Talaat Harb Square, on my way to Café Riche, when a young man, between 20-25 years of age, approaches me and says something along the lines of “Thanks a lot for visiting Cairo. It’s been crazy here for the past few months and many tourists have been turned off. It’s great that you decided to visit.” I let my guard down a little bit and didn’t immediately brush him off. The young man continued to ask tourist related questions about how long I was in Cairo for, what I was planning to see, whether I was going to visit other parts of Egypt. I told him I was only in the city for a few days and was heading to Jordan the next day. I began thinking I should ask this guy to join me at Café Riche. We were about a half a block away. The young man eventually said that he worked for an official state-run Egyptian tourism board and asked if I’d be willing to swing by his office to gather some tourist feedback. My guard immediately shot back up. I thought, this guy is a tout, this is a papyrus dealer, and I’m waaaaay too smart to fall for this a third time. I said no, that’s ok, and that was the end of the conversation. No further pestering and he went off on his way. Maybe I was wrong. I ordered a Turkish coffee in Café Riche and grabbed a seat with a window view. I saw the guy would by two more times and I thought, I’m an idiot. I think I have this amazing radar to spot scams and I inadvertently passed up on a conversation with a local. I missed my opportunity to gain a local perspective and understanding on what was happening in Egypt during this crazy period.
I kicked myself for this missed opportunity for the rest of the trip.
I used hotel points to book a room in a Sheraton in Tel Aviv for the last night of the trip. I turned on the TV and went to the CNN World channel. Like other news stations, CNN was covering the current unrest in Cairo and the upcoming elections. As news stations do, CNN was interviewing “people on the street” to provide a local feel. Every ten minutes CNN was switching between anchors in the newsroom to side stories to people on the street. A new people on the street segment started and I did a triple take. Holy cow it was the young guy from Talaat Harb Square. I couldn’t believe it. And then I noticed something else. He was behind a counter with a bunch of prints behind him. CNN was interview this guy from his papyrus shop!!!
I felt vindicated but then I thought if I knew this guy was a bullshitter and if papyrus dealers are known scammers, why, oh why, would CNN interview this guy for a people on the street segment. I thought, this is fake news. And that’s why I don’t trust CNN.
On the last afternoon I was in Cairo I was walking through Talaat Harb Square, on my way to Café Riche, when a young man, between 20-25 years of age, approaches me and says something along the lines of “Thanks a lot for visiting Cairo. It’s been crazy here for the past few months and many tourists have been turned off. It’s great that you decided to visit.” I let my guard down a little bit and didn’t immediately brush him off. The young man continued to ask tourist related questions about how long I was in Cairo for, what I was planning to see, whether I was going to visit other parts of Egypt. I told him I was only in the city for a few days and was heading to Jordan the next day. I began thinking I should ask this guy to join me at Café Riche. We were about a half a block away. The young man eventually said that he worked for an official state-run Egyptian tourism board and asked if I’d be willing to swing by his office to gather some tourist feedback. My guard immediately shot back up. I thought, this guy is a tout, this is a papyrus dealer, and I’m waaaaay too smart to fall for this a third time. I said no, that’s ok, and that was the end of the conversation. No further pestering and he went off on his way. Maybe I was wrong. I ordered a Turkish coffee in Café Riche and grabbed a seat with a window view. I saw the guy would by two more times and I thought, I’m an idiot. I think I have this amazing radar to spot scams and I inadvertently passed up on a conversation with a local. I missed my opportunity to gain a local perspective and understanding on what was happening in Egypt during this crazy period.
I kicked myself for this missed opportunity for the rest of the trip.
I used hotel points to book a room in a Sheraton in Tel Aviv for the last night of the trip. I turned on the TV and went to the CNN World channel. Like other news stations, CNN was covering the current unrest in Cairo and the upcoming elections. As news stations do, CNN was interviewing “people on the street” to provide a local feel. Every ten minutes CNN was switching between anchors in the newsroom to side stories to people on the street. A new people on the street segment started and I did a triple take. Holy cow it was the young guy from Talaat Harb Square. I couldn’t believe it. And then I noticed something else. He was behind a counter with a bunch of prints behind him. CNN was interview this guy from his papyrus shop!!!
I felt vindicated but then I thought if I knew this guy was a bullshitter and if papyrus dealers are known scammers, why, oh why, would CNN interview this guy for a people on the street segment. I thought, this is fake news. And that’s why I don’t trust CNN.