Listening Post - Libya: Shining a light into a media black hole

The media's role in the historic Arab uprisings has so far been celebrated and feared, with the collaboration between new media and satellite TV too powerful for dictators to withstand. But that has all changed in Libya. Muammar Gaddafi appears to have learnt some media lessons from the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia and quickly responded to protests in his country by shutting out foreign journalists, jamming TV transmissions and cutting off the internet and phone networks. The absence of professional journalists has meant that the job has been left to citizen journalists and the world has been able to follow the story through the often horrific and violent videos that have been leaked out of the country. This week we look at new media's role in shedding light on an otherwise information black hole.