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Egyptian Revolution's Coverage Between Al-Ahram an Newyork

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People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Larbi Ben M’hidi University-Oum El Bouaghi Faculty of Letters and Languages Department of English The Egyptian Revolution's Coverage between Al-Ahram and Newyork Times Newspapers (2011) A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Anglo-American Studies By:DJOUAD Naziha Supervisor: Mrs.BADI Rima Board of Examiners Examiner: Mrs.GHENEM Fatima 2016-2017 i Dedication It is a great honor for me to dedicate this work to all martyrs who sacrificed their lives for freedom, justice, and dignity in Egypt and in the Arab world. I would like also to dedicate this work: To my parents for their love, and understanding that helped me to finish my work. To my sisters Nouara, Samira and also my brothers Faycel, Ibrahim Imed, and Bilel for their encouragement. To all my friends especially Khaoula and her brother Hayder for their support. ii Acknowledgements As this journey comes to an end, I’m extremely grateful to the one who has power overall, I thank almighty Allah who allowed me to finish this work. I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to my teacher and supervisor Mrs. Badi Rima, who has supported and guided me from the beginning of the research till the end. I’m sincerely grateful to all those who helped me in accomplishing my research, I’m appreciative to examiner who dedicate part of her invaluable time to read my work. iii Abstract The Egyptian Revolution was a significant socio-political and economic protest movement in the modern Middle East history that brought down the thirty years of Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime as the president of Egypt in February 2011.In fact, the revolution in Egypt did not only take the minds and hearts of Egyptian people; however, it captured the interest of national and international media as well. This research work has two main objectives. First, it attempts to find out the socio-economic and political factors before and during the revolution as well as the consequences of the post revolution. Secondly and most importantly, this research aims at answering the question of how Egyptian and American newspapers namely Al-Ahram and New York Times covered the Egypt uprising. Through making a comparative study between the two newspapers to figure out at the end that both of them covered the revolution from different scopes and perspectives (Egyptian vs. American). Keywords: Egyptian Revolution/Protest/Hosni Mubarak/National and International Media/Al-Ahram Newspaper/New York Time Newspaper/Covered. Résumé La révolution égyptienne a été un grand mouvement de protestation sociale, politique et économique dans l'histoire du Moyen-Orient moderne, qui a chuté de trente ans du régime autoritaire de Hosni Mubarak en tant que président de l'Egypte en Février 2011, en fait, n'étaient pas la révolution en Egypte juste prendre les cœurs et les esprits du peuple égyptien. Mais il a attiré l'attention des médias nationaux et internationaux. A cet effet, de cette recherche est d'atteindre deux objectifs principaux d'abord essayer de comprendre les facteurs sociaux, économiques et politiques avant et pendant la révolution, ainsi que les conséquences de la post-révolution. En second lieu, la présente note vise à répondre à la question sur la façon de couvrir les journaux égyptiens et américains de la révolution égyptienne, qui est le Al- Ahram et le New York Times, le printemps arabe en Egypte. A travers une étude comparative entre les deux journaux exprimés pour découvrir à la fin que chaque rapport de journal diffère de l'autre parce qu'ils représentent les points de vue différents (égyptien contre-américain). Mots-clés: La révolutiond’ Egypte , manifestants , Hosni Mubarak , media , le journal national et international ,Ahram , US journal New York Times . iv Table of Content Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………i Abstract……………………..………………………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgments.…………..………………….…………………………………………….iii List of Acronyms and Abbreviations…...…………………..…………………………………iv List of Tables and Figures ……………….…………………………………………………….v General Introduction………………………………….………………………………………01 Chapter One: Understanding Egyptian Revolution……………………………..06 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...07 I-Egyptian Revolution: Historical Background and Definition ……………….…………08 a- Historical Background ………….…………………………………………………………08 b- Definition………………………..…………………………………………………………10 II-The Beginning of Egyptian Revolution 2011……………….……;……………………..12 a- Pre-revolution………………………………..…………………………………………….12 b - Inside Revolution……….…………………………………………………………………15 c- Timeline of events …………………………………………………………………………17 d- Post Revolution…………………………….………………………………………………26 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………30 Endnotes………………………………………………………………………………………34 v Chapter Two:I/ The Egyptian Revolution Portrayal between Al-Ahram and New York Times Newspaper Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..35 A-What is a newspaper?………….....………………………………………………….…….36 B-General overview……………………………………………………….………………….37 1. Al-Ahram…………………………………………………………..............................38 2. NewYork Times ……………………………………………………………………...39 II/the Framing of Egyptian Revolution by Al-Ahram and New York Times Newspapers A- Al-Ahram………………………………………………………………………………39 1. Protesters…..……………………..…………………………………………………..39 2. Government ……………………………..……………………………………...……42 3. Revolution………………………………..…………………………………………..43 B-New York Times………………………………………………………………………44 1. Protesters……………………………………………………………………………...44 2. Government …...……………………………………………………………………...46 3. Revolution…...………………………………………………………………….…….47 C-The USA Reaction towards Egyptian Revolution covered by Al-Ahram and New York Times………..……………………………………………………………………………………47 vi D-The Similarities and Differences between Al-Ahram and NYT Newspapers………..……49 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………55 Endnotes ………………………………………………………………………………...........56 General conclusion……………………………………………………………………………59 List of work cited……………………...……………………………………………………...65 vii List of Acronyms CIA : Central Intelligence Agency. CSF: Central Security Forces. CYR :Coalition of Youth of Revolution. GDP : Gross Domestic Product. IAEA : International Atomic Energy Agency. MB : Muslim Brotherhood. MENA : Middle East and North Africa. NAC : National Association for Change. NUP : Nation of Union Party. NDP : National Democratic Party. NYT : New York Times. UNDP: United Nation Development Program SCAF : Supreme Council of Armed Forces. US : United State. YJF :Youth For Justice. viii List of Figures and tables Figure 01: The Central Demonstrations in Egyptian Cities………...………………………..18 Table 01: The Predications Used by Al Ahram and New York Newspaper to Describe Opposing Groups in Egypt 2011………..……………………………………………………51 Table 02: The Similarities and Differences between Al-Ahram and New York Times in their Coverage of Egyptian Revolution……………………………………………………………53 1 General Introduction On December 17, 2010, a young Tunisian vegetable vendor called Mohamed Bouazizi immolated himself on fire as a reaction of Tunisian injustice and police brutality. Bouazizi suicide's act became a sudden cause for the widespread of popular uprising in the Arab world. This uprising which became known in media as "The Arab Spring" or "The Arab Uprising" resulted in the overthrow of four countries leaders: Tunisian's Zine El- Abedine Ben Ali, Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, Libya's Maamar Gadafi, and Yemen's Abdallah Salah. Moreover, economic, social and political factors were the main causes behind the widespread of the revolutionary waves in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). After the fall of the Tunisian's regime, Egypt followed the same path of Tunisia. On January 25, 2011, millions of protesters gathered in the Tahrir Square in Cairo and other Egyptian cities demanding the fall of Mubarak's 30 years regime as well as the socio- political reforms. After 18 days of demonstrations, protesters finally achieved their goal and removed Mubarak’s from Egypt's government. In fact, the Egyptian Revolution took the world by surprise; a national and international media played an essential role in framing the events that happened in Egypt during 18 days of demonstrations, exactly between the period of 25 January and February 12, 2011. Moreover, the Egyptian and the American media were the most representative which reported the events from different perspectives particularly the state owned Al-Ahram and the American New York Times (NYT) newspapers (Humaidi 14). The difference between the two newspapers based on the way they reported the events .i.e. Al-Ahram pro-Mubarak newspaper represented the voice of the government, while New York Times portrayed the demonstration's demands and their protest against Hosni Mubarak’s ruling power. 2 For this sake, the main objective of the study is to examine the coverage of the Egyptian Revolution by two leading newspapers represent the pro-Mubarak and anti- Mubarak voices. In addition to that, this study aims at answering two main questions. First, how did the two newspapers, Al-Ahram and New York Times covered the Egyptian Revolution during 18 days of protest movement? Second, what are the main similarities and differences between Al-Ahram and New York Times in their reporting of the events? To conduct this study, I have selected Al-Ahram and NYT newspapers as two examples of a print media since they are from different scopes in which Al-Ahram coverage is from Egyptian scope and NYT is
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