This book critically analyses the hegemony of Egypt’s business and military elites and the private media they own or control. Arguing that this hegemony requires the exercise of power to maintain consent under changing conditions such as the 2011 uprising and the 2013 military coup, the book answers the central question of why and how Egypt’s ruling elites control the media. Situated within the interdisciplinary domain of ‘critical political economy of communication’, it focuses on popular privately-owned newspapers and TV channels and their ownerships using a qualitative approach involving 20 interviews conducted over five years with key actors and experts in the Egyptian media landscape for unprecedented insight. The first book on the political economy of Egyptian media, the book serves as a case study and a country profile for of appeal to scholars and experts of Middle Eastern Studies, media and the political economy of communication, among others.
Author(s): Maher Hamoud
Series: Political Communication and Media Practices in the Middle East and North Africa
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 232
City: London
Cover
Halftitle page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
1 Introduction
2 A Critical Overview of Egypt’s Media Market
Egypt’s neoliberal capitalism and the business elite
Structural phases of the military’s business empire
A brief history of Egyptian media
The business elite’s interest in media control
Teaming between investors and media personnel
Shifting media ownership: from the business elite to the military
Conclusion
3 A Political Economy of Egypt’s Distorted Advertising Market
Neoliberalization and the introduction of a new advertising market
Advertising agencies and political propaganda under Mubarak
The military as advertisers under al-Sisi
Conclusion
4 Social Media as a Political Space
The internet as a political space prior to 2011
Social media as a revolutionary messenger
Militarizing social media: the business of e-committees
Intensifying e-surveillance post 2013
Conclusion
5 The Fall of Mubarak and Morsi: A Review of News Coverage
A review of the coverage of the uprising and Mubarak’s fall
A review of the coverage of the period following Mubarak’s fall
The emergence of Tamarod
News framing of the coup and Morsi’s fall
A review of coverage of al-Sisi as ‘the saviour’
Conclusion
6 The Military as Media Producers: Politics and Drama on al-Sisi’s TV
Freedom of expression: only against the Muslim Brotherhood
Violence against journalists: police and the ‘Honourable Citizens
Demonizing critical news outlets
Military monopoly over the TV drama business
Conclusion
7 Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
