The Agenda-Setting Impact of Egyptian Nightly Television Talk Shows on Attitudes Towards Civic Engagement in Egypt
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American University in Cairo AUC Knowledge Fountain Theses and Dissertations 6-1-2011 The agenda-setting impact of Egyptian nightly television talk shows on attitudes towards civic engagement in Egypt Sara Nassar El-Khalili Follow this and additional works at: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds Recommended Citation APA Citation El-Khalili, S. (2011).The agenda-setting impact of Egyptian nightly television talk shows on attitudes towards civic engagement in Egypt [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/990 MLA Citation El-Khalili, Sara Nassar. The agenda-setting impact of Egyptian nightly television talk shows on attitudes towards civic engagement in Egypt. 2011. American University in Cairo, Master's thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/990 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by AUC Knowledge Fountain. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of AUC Knowledge Fountain. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy The Agenda-Setting Impact of Egyptian Nightly Television Talk Shows on Attitudes towards Civic Engagement in Egypt A Thesis Submitted to The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Sara Nassar El-Khalili under the supervision of Dr. Hussein Amin May/2011 I II DEDICATION ( رحمه هللا) To my father Nassar Hamdy El-Khalili (May God bless his soul) You cultivated in me the love of knowledge and the eagerness to learn. You taught me perseverance, honor and self-respect. You inspired me to think critically and welcomed all my questions. You supported me all my life. You will always be in my heart daddy. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Working on this thesis has been a very challenging experience. I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this mission if it wasn’t for the love and support of my family. I’m all grateful to my mother Roula Cosmopoulous, for her unconditional love, support, and for taking care of my beloved daughter, Leila El-Reedi, while I was juggling between studying and teaching. I will always be grateful to Leila and my husband Mohamed El-Reedi for their support and for bearing with me during such difficult times. You’re all very precious to me. God bless you. My unique auntie Antonia Sphicas, you are my friend and my mentor. My bright cousin Dr. Panos Sphicas, you inspire me. Thank you for being there for me. I’m thankful to my in-laws as well for their constant love and support. My dear father-in-law Fouad El-Reedi and my dearest mother-in-law Naema El-Bastaweesy, thank you for standing by my side. My gratitude to my adviser Dr. Hussein Amin is endless. I truly appreciate your valuable feedback and effort in advising me on this research. Thank you for everything Dr. Amin, for giving me the opportunity to excel in the graduate program as a student and as an instructor. Thank you for your constant support and for being so generous with your students, always lifting us up to more professional leagues. You truly get the best out of your students. May God bless you and your lovely family. I can’t thank my readers enough: Dr. Naila Hamdy and Dr. David London. Thank you for taking the time to examine my thesis and for providing me with your fruitful and enriching feedback. I’m honored to have you on my thesis committee. Thank you both for your constant support and advice. I’m privileged to have you as professors, examiners and colleagues. I’m grateful to all my professors at AUC. Dr. Rasha Abdulla, I had the privilege of being one of your students and I learned a lot from you in the field of mass media research. You truly foster a solid research foundation for your students. Thank you for equipping your students with the knowledge to conduct research competently. We will always be grateful. Dr. Pandeli Glavanis, you inspired me to think of civic engagement in Egypt. Your course planted the seed for this research. Thank you for enriching my knowledge and providing me with valuable feedback. I really appreciate it. Professor Mervat Abo Ouf, I can’t thank you enough for being there for me, for giving me hope and encouraging me to think positively. Thank you for giving me feedback and inspiring me to continue in the right direction. I really appreciate your advice and support. To my friends and colleagues, I will always be thankful. You surrounded me with love and support, encouraging me to accomplish this mission. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.” Many thanks to you all in alphabetical order: Rasha Allam, Mona Badran, Lamya Desokey, Nihal El-Gammal, Rasha El-Ibiary, Mai El-Nawawy, Mostafa Ezzi, Ingy Galal, Bahaa Gamil, Marwa Ragaa, Dina Samir, Sahar Sedkey, Mohamed Selim, Marwa Seoudi, Nesrine Serour, and Olfa Tantawi. Many special thanks and gratitude to Sahar Sedkey for her effort in coding the inter-coder reliability sample for this research. And special thanks to my reliable assistant Maha Fayed. Respect and gratitude for all my friends and colleagues mentioned or not mentioned here, for being there for me, surrounding me with support and giving me guidance all the way. IV ABSTRACT The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy The Agenda-Setting Impact of Egyptian Nightly Television Talk Shows on Attitudes towards Civic Engagement in Egypt A Thesis Submitted to The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Sara Nassar El-Khalili under the supervision of Dr. Hussein Amin May/2011 The awareness function of the mass media is at the heart of civic engagement, which is fundamental for a country in transition to democracy such as Egypt. This study examined the agenda-setting impact of Egyptian nightly television talk shows on attitudes towards civic engagement among the Egyptian elite. This primary research linked agenda-setting theory to civic engagement. Through setting the salience of news and creating sociopolitical awareness, agenda-setting establishes the first step in civic engagement, creating an informed citizenry. A primary content analysis of the three most popular Egyptian nightly television talk shows before the Jan.25th revolution: Masr Ennharda (Egypt Today), Al Ashera Masa’an (10 PM), and 90 Deqeeqa (90 Minutes), was conducted to measure the media agenda. A total of 78 episodes of talk shows were coded from October 6 to November 10, before the 2010 parliamentary elections. A primary survey was conducted among a purposive sample of the Egyptian elite (356 participants) to examine the public agenda and the relationships between exposure to talk shows, agenda-setting, and civic engagement. The findings support an agenda-setting impact of Egyptian nightly television talk shows at the first and second levels. Participants cited talk shows as their main source of information for the news issues they listed. Respondents’ perceptions of the November 2010 parliamentary elections also corresponded with talk shows’ framing of the elections. The first outcome of the agenda-setting impact on both levels is sociopolitical awareness, which represents the first and most basic level of civic engagement. One of the primary findings of this study is the significant positive correlation between perception of talk shows as civically engaging and attitudes towards civic engagement. This study also found a positive relationship between exposure to nightly television shows and attitudes towards civic engagement. A five-point civic engagement scale was created to measure the overall level of civic engagement among participants, which found that the elite sample surveyed is civically engaged. This study proceeded with conducting qualitative interviews with experts, producing recommendations for talk shows in order to play a more active role in fostering civic engagement in Egypt. V TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS 1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………….. 1 1.1 Civic Engagement and Democracy………………………………………... 1 1.2 Egypt’s Political Environment ……………….………………………........ 2 1.3 Civic Engagement in Egypt ………………….……………………………. 5 1.4 Media and Civic Engagement in Egypt …….……………...……………... 7 1.5 Statement of the Problem …………………….………………………........ 12 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK……..……………………...……………..… 14 2.1 Agenda Setting Theory………...…………………………………………... 14 2.2 Levels of Agenda Setting………...………………….……………………… 15 2.3 Agenda Setting and Democracy…..……………………………………...... 18 3 LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………….. 21 3.1 Defining Civic Engagement………....……………………………………... 21 3.2 Media and Civic Engagement……....……………………………………... 22 3.3 Talk Shows…………………………...……………………………………... 28 3.4 Definition, History and Development of Talk Shows...…………………... 30 3.5 An Overview of the Political Impact of Talk Shows…..…..……………... 38 3.6 Television Talk Shows in the Arab World and Egypt…….……………... 51 4 METHODOLOGY......…………………………………….…………………….. 63 4.1 Research Questions and Hypotheses……………………….……………... 63 4.1.1 Research Questions……………………………………….……………… 63 4.1.2 Research Hypotheses…………………………………...………………… 63 4.1.3 Independent Variables & Operational Definitions…...………………... 65 4.1.4 Dependent Variables & Operational Definitions……..………………... 66 4.2 The Content Analysis