UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM The Election Spring The coverage of President Abdel Fatah El Sisi’s presidential candidacy by Al Jazeera Arabic and CBC Egypt Thesis Submitted to The Department of Political Science In Partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Political Science Specialisation: International Relations by Samah Le Sayed Under the supervision of Dr. Anne deJong Second reader: Dr. Julien Jeandesboz 24.375 words August 2014 ii Abstract This study examines the portrayal of the candidate Abdel Fatah el Sisi during the 2014 Egyptian presidential elections. A framing analysis was conducted through qualitative content analysis of two talk shows: Hona el Assema from CBC Egypt and El Mashhad el Masry from Al Jazeera. The study revealed that important biases from both programs could be observed. Discussion on candidate Abdel Fatah el Sisi was more common than discussion on other candidates, reducing the degree of visibility of opponents in both programs. Al Jazeera Arabic’s program framed the candidate Sisi in a negative light through pictures of protests joined by negative comments of invited personalities. CBC Egypt portrayed the candidate Abdel Fattah el Sisi in a positive light, with highly enthusiastic reactions from his supporters on the program. iii List of Abbreviations ASU: Arab Socialist Union CBC: Capital Broadcast Center ERTU: Egyptian Radio and Television Union MB: Muslim Brotherhood MBC: Middle East Broadcasting Corporation NDP: National Democratic Party RCA: Radio Corporation of America RTM: Radiodiffusion-Television Marocaine iv Table of Content Abstract iii List of Abbreviations iv Table of Content v I. Introduction 1 1.1 Preface 1 1.2 Research question 2 1.3 Research Relevance 3 1.3.1 Literature Review 3 1.3.2 Academic 5 1.3.2 Personal 5 1.3.2 Obstacles 6 1.4 Methodology 6 1.4.1 Description of the methodology 6 1.4.2 Framing Theory 7 1.4.3 Qualitative content analysis 8 II. Background 9 2.1 Egypt and the media 9 2.1.1 State-media relationship 9 2.1.2 Historical overview of terrestrial and satellite television in the Middle East 12 2.1.3 Talk shows, a new genre 16 2.2 Al Jazeera Arabic 18 2.2.1 Al Jazeera Arabic’s History 18 2.2.2 Al Jazeera’s Reputation 19 2.2.3 Al Jazeera’s Foreign Relations 20 2.3 CBC Egypt 21 2.3.1 CBC Egypt’s History 21 v 2.3.2 CBC Egypt’s Reputation 22 2.3.3 CBC Egypt’s Foreign Relations 23 2.4 Elections in Egypt 24 2.4.1 History of the electoral process in Egypt 24 2.4.2 Egyptian Political Parties 27 III. Findings 29 3.1 Hona El Assema 29 3.1.1 Image 29 3.1.2 Viewpoint Host 30 3.1.3 Guests invited 31 3.1.4 Political Association 31 3.1.5 References to Sabahi 32 3.1.6 Frames 33 3.2 El Mashhad El Masry 34 3.2.1 Image 34 3.2.2 Viewpoint Host 34 3.2.3 Guests invited 35 3.2.4 Political Association 36 3.2.5 References to Sabahi compared to Sisi 37 3.2.6 Frames 37 IV. Conclusion 38 Bibliography 40 Appendix vi I. Introduction 1.1 Preface Television thrives on unreason, and unreason thrives on television. It strikes at the emotions rather than the intellect. – -Sir Robin Day, BBC journalist, Financial Times, November 8,1989 Under normal circumstances and according to the Egyptian constitution, every four years, Egyptians are expected to vote for their presidential candidate. After 30 years of dictatorship under the Mubarak regime and an unexpected revolution, the Egyptian people were given the opportunity to exercise their democratic right. Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was elected and after a chaotic year in command, the people demanded the resignation of the democratically elected President. On the 3rd July 2013, the Egyptian army, led by Field Marshall Abdel Fattah el Sisi, carried a coup d’Etat overthrowing the Islamist government of President Mohammed Morsi. The following transitional government fixed date of the presidential elections between the 26th and 28th May 2014. After months of speculation over the possible candidates, the Supreme Election Committee declared Field Marshal Abdel Fatah el Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahy as the only candidates to the presidency. Despite the fact the results were anticipated due to the massive popularity of Abdel Fattah el Sisi, the Presidential campaign remained a decisive period for each candidate. Due to the role the media played in informing people about the candidates during that period and the fact that no pure neutrality exists, the reliability of the information presented to the public remains essential. The role of television was particularly important during the electoral period, as free satellite television remains the main platform of information in the Middle East (Arab Media Outlook, 2012). In fact, according to the Arab Media Outlook report published in 2012, the number Egyptian households owning a television set is estimated at 22,560 millions, which represents around 96.6% of the population (Arab Media Outlook, 2012). Even an emphasis was put on the role of social media during the Arab Spring, “only two out of 100 individuals in Egypt have access to broadband Internet’’ (Aggour, 2014). While satellite broadcasting was seen as an alternative and expected to put “an end to the era of censorship in the Arab World” (Korany, 2010: 73), this assumption was challenged by a large amount of press articles. The foreign and local Egyptian press denounced the lack of objectivity in the coverage of the protests; and questions persist on impartiality of television hosts during and after the events (Hassan, 2014). An important number of satellite channels offered programs such as talk show that covered Egyptian current affairs, including the presidential campaign. These channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and CBC Egypt, which will be the subject of our study. Al Jazeera Arabic, the first pan-Arabic satellite channel, has always claimed to be free of any governmental censorship, giving it an alternative role to state media. CBC Egypt, a satellite channel launched after the January 25th Revolution in 2011, was also expected to represent an alternative voice and a new generation of media, as it was part of the new media outlets launched after the revolution (Unesco, 2013). Nevertheless, both channels have been highly condemned. Al Jazeera Arabic’s reporting style was accused of being unfair to the Egyptian government, leading to mass resignation of its Egyptian staff during the revolution (Farhi, 2013). CBC Egypt was blamed for “covering events in Egypt’s recent crisis from one side only, that is the side of the current interim government” (Masry, 2013). The exceptional circumstances and the organization of presidential elections have therefore given us a unique opportunity to examine the nature of Arab television channels. This study will critically examine the claim of objectivity of both channels through the analysis of their coverage of Field Marshall Abdel Fattah el Sisi’s candidacy. Two talk shows -Hona el Assema and El Mashhad el Masry- were selected from Al Jazeera Arabic and CBC Egypt to answer the research questions outlined in the next section. 1.2 Research questions As both channels Al Jazeera Arabic and CBC Egypt have been accused of lacking objectivity in their reports, we will analyse these assertions through the following questions: Main Question: How do CBC Egypt and Al Jazeera Arabic portray Field Marshal Abdel Fattah el Sisi’s presidential candidacy? Sub questions: Q1: What are the different frames that emerge of the analysis? Q2: How are political actors used to support the frame? 2 Q3: Was there a fair coverage of both candidates? Q3: Are CBC Egypt and Al Jazeera Arabic biased? 1.3 Research Relevance 1.3.1 Literature review Prior to 1990’s, “Arab television in each country was watched almost exclusively by the domestic audience in that country” (Rugh, 2004: 201). The rapid expansion of the satellite technology in the Middle East enabled the launching of thousands of channels outreaching national borders. These channels included information channels, entertainment and religious channels. The communication scholarship focused much of its attention on Al Jazeera Arabic, Al Arabiya and similar information channels and the objectivity of their reports on the Iraqi war (Lynch, 2006; Sakr, 2007; Zayani, 2005). Also, different scholars reviewed the increase in the number of Islamic television networks or “televangelist channels”, hosted by star preachers such as Amr Khaled (Saleh, Ninan Thomas and Lee, 2012; Moll, 2010). Furthermore, as expressed by Valeriani: “Media scholarship has mostly focused on the regional and global dimension of the “satellite revolution” in Arab news, insisting on concepts such as the “pan-Arab public sphere” and “media panarabism” (2010:26). This is due to the fact that satellite channels overtook terrestrial viewership and made Arabs watch the same satellite channels throughout the region. Lawrence Pintak emphasized on the role of Arab satellite television in awakening people’s consciousness. She refers to the 2005 Cedar Revolution, when thousands of infuriated Lebanese citizens took down the streets against Assad’s interventions in their political affairs (2008). Therefore, satellite television represents a window to democracy. As noted by Lynch, only “structural shift in the means of public communication” enabled the creation of this democratic window (2003:56). These structural changes impacted on the shaping of personal opinions and generated an Arab public sphere capable of influencing political affairs. Pintak and Lynch especially emphasized on the role of Al Jazeera Arabic in developing the pan-Arabic public sphere, but Lynch went further and gave Al Jazeeera Arabic’s political talk shows a prominent role.