Report from Egypt

FRONTLINE GOES INSIDE THE YOUTH MOVEMENT THAT IGNITED THE UPRISING IN EGYPT, AND INVESTIGATES THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

FRONTLINE Special Report from Egypt
Revolution in Cairo
Tuesday, February 22, 2011, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

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As the protest movement in Egypt continues to send shock waves throughout the country—and the world—FRONTLINE dispatches teams to Cairo for this special report.

In Revolution in Cairo, airing Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE goes inside the group that ignited the uprising, following key leaders of the April 6 Youth Movement as they plot strategy, then head out into the Tahrir Square hoping to bring down President Hosni Mubarak. Also in this hour, veteran Middle East correspondent Charles Sennott of GlobalPost, reporting for FRONTLINE, lands in Cairo to take a hard look at Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood—the most well-organized and powerful of the country’s opposition groups—as a new fight for power in Egypt begins to takes shape.

“This is a story that no one could have predicted, and everyone now wants to know more about,” says FRONTLINE executive producer David Fanning. “We’re using our new monthly magazine to be able to respond quickly to timely events and help fill the need for added depth and insight on these important breaking stories.”

In this hour’s lead story, Revolution in Cairo, FRONTLINE gains unique access to the April 6 group, tracing the long road these young Egyptian activists took to Tahrir Square, as they’ve made increasingly bold use of the Internet in their underground resistance over the last few years. Through sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the members of April 6 and related groups helped organize a political movement that the secret police did not understand and could not stop, despite the arrest and torture of some of the movement’s key members.

For the second story, Inside the Muslim Brotherhood, GlobalPost’s Charles Sennott is on the ground in Cairo for FRONTLINE to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood, the controversial but poorly understood Islamist political movement that’s poised to play a key role in Egypt’s future. While the group was absent in Tahrir Square when young demonstrators first ignited Egypt’s revolt, the Brotherhood assumed a larger role over the course of the protests, taking frontline positions in rock-throwing battles with regime supporters and helping to run emergency medical clinics. Now that the Muslim Brotherhood stands to take a prominent place at the negotiating table, we examine what the group believes and how it may influence politics in the country and the region.

Leading up to the Feb. 22 broadcast, the website will feature dispatches, photos and audio from our team in Cairo as they report on this fast-moving story. In addition, FRONTLINE (@FrontlinePBS) will be live-tweeting (#RevolutionInCairo) during the broadcast, and hosting an open chat with producers on our website following the broadcast.

Revolution in Cairo is co-production with GlobalPost and is written and senior produced by Michael Kirk and Martin Smith. The special correspondent is Charles Sennott of GlobalPost. The series senior producer of FRONTLINE is Raney Aronson-Rath. The executive producer of FRONTLINE is David Fanning.

FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Major funding for FRONTLINE is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and by Reva and David Logan. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation and by the FRONTLINE Journalism Fund. Major funding for FRONTLINE’s expanded broadcast season is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. FRONTLINE is closed-captioned for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers by the Media Access Group at WGBH. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of the WGBH Educational Foundation.

About GlobalPost
GlobalPost (www.GlobalPost.com) is the acclaimed international news site with outstanding original reporting from country-based journalists in all regions of the world. Noted by The New York Times as “offering a mix of news and features that only a handful of other news organizations can rival,” GlobalPost offers fresh, in-depth perspective on the changing global picture that affects us all by combining traditional journalistic values and the power of new media. GlobalPost is the vision of journalist and media entrepreneur Philip S. Balboni and award-winning foreign correspondent Charles M. Sennott.

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