Egyptian journalists and the struggle for change following the 2011 uprising: The ambiguous journalistic agency between change and conformity

Abstract

The Egyptian media displayed a high level of content diversity in the final years of the Mubarak regime, prior to the 2011 uprising. This diversity expanded considerably after the uprising when national media embodied expressions of dissent with unprecedented openness, in defiance of the entrenched identity of the journalist as the regime’s guard. This article investigates the dynamics of journalistic agency in Egyptian newsrooms in search for a new identity, investigating the challenges, hopes and trade-offs of a painful process of change. It looks at the complex interplay between these agentic dynamics and inherited structures within an uncertain and highly contested transition to democracy, which finally collapsed into a new chapter of authoritarianism. The article argues that while journalistic agency helped support trends towards democratization in media and politics in the immediate aftermath of the uprising, it also acted as powerful platform in ‘othering’ opponents preparing the ground for the return of autocratic practices and ultimately the fall of the democratic experiment.

Post-regime-change Afghan and Iraqi media systems: Strategic ambivalence as technology of media governance

“…Some have paid the ultimate price in this path, giving their lives or enduring other forms of hardship, from torture to kidnapping (Eide et al, 2019; Human Rights Watch, 2020; Kim and Hama-Saeed, 2008). The existing evidence underlines the criticality of journalists’ awareness and exercise of their agency in contributing to any process of democratization of a post-regime change political order, as Issawi (2020)’s work, for example, shows Egyptian journalists’ role in both the relative opening after the country’s 2011 uprising and the subsequent authoritarian atmosphere that ensued following a military coup in 2013.…”

“…But this article investigates the governance of the postwar Afghan and Iraqi media systems 2 that have emerged over the past couple of decades – a topic that, to the best of this author’s knowledge, is yet to be studied. As such, taking a systemic approach, it seeks to fill an important lacuna in the literature on the post-invasion Afghan and Iraqi media particularly, and the governance of the post-regime change media more broadly (on the latter line of research, see, for instance, Issawi, 2020; Sparks, 2011a, 2011b; Voltmer, 2013; Webb, 2014).…”

Kenyan Media Freedom Under Attack: Analysis of Media Work in Kenya Using Maatic Theory of Communication

“…The allegation from the state is that they (the media) should not cover some of the events they do. This kind of idea only resonates with what takes place in autocratic governments in Egypt, The Gambia or Tunisia for example, (see Issawi, 2020Issawi, , 2012Barrie et al 2023). However, on the part of the journalists, they maintain that they serve the public that have a right to know-get the information of what happens around them.…”

Measuring Media Criticism with ALC Word Embeddings

“…This democratic opening was abruptly ended by a military coup in July 2013. Following the coup, there has been an elliptical return to authoritarianism, including a total reversal of the political freedoms enjoyed during the country's brief experiment with democracy and the restoration of Egypt's Mubarak-era security state, who have undertaken an unprecedented crackdown on civil society and the free press (Issawi 2020).…”