Chapter 1: Introduction
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Chapter 1: Introduction The Egyptian political sphere of Mubarak's regime used to impose censorship on all mass media outlets, although the margin of freedom of expression has increased compared to previous regimes. Due to the different measures of control imposed by Mubarak’s government, Islamists were depending only on the Internet or the private television satellite channels to express their views and ideologies. Before the 25th of January revolution, the massive technical and artistic developments in the media, particularly the Internet and satellite television channels, have represented a fertile field for the Islamic media (Sultan, 2012). The Islamic media, in field of journalism and broadcasting, benefit from Internet because among the main characteristics of the Internet are ease of use, low cost especially in the infrastructure costs (Sultan, 2012). Also, the advent of the Internet helped the Islamic media to be spread because the Internet surpasses many barriers, such the infrastructure costs and official permits which make it difficult to get a license for newspaper, magazine or broadcasting channel (Sultan, 2012). Moreover, the Islamic channels before the revolution were focusing only on the education and interpretation of Islam, and were not used as a tool to propagate for the political ideologies of Islamic movements. Yet, after the revolution, and in the midst of this "uncontrolled wave of expansion, because of modern technical means and relative low cost of launching a satellite channel, some of purely Islamic channels have appeared" (Hroub, 2012). Before the Arab Spring, Islamic mass media in 1 different forms have been a crucial tool in the process of Islamizing the society, and in the strategy that adopted and promoted by Islamists movements (Hroub, 2012). At the beginning of these Islamic channels such as al-Majd satellite channel and Iqra' satellite channel, they focus on religion education and interpretation. However, after the 25th of January revolution, the Islamists channels such as al-Hafaz satellite channel and al-Nas satellite channel start to act as a forum for the politics of the Islamists groups. Mainly, the early Islamic channels in the Arab countries were about discussing religious rules and explaining the Islamic teachings, which mean they insist on non-political issues. "Religious channels in pre-revolution times avoided covering politics and kept to their orthodox discourse of the religion" (Hroub, 2012). In pre-revolution times, these Islamic channels preoccupied the audiences with religious, social, and other issues, away from criticizing the practices of the political regimes (Hroub, 2012). This means that the main policy of these Islamic satellite channels was avoiding political issues (Hroub, 2012). "In the realm of Islamism, mainstream Salafi movements have for a long time been apolitical, focusing on bringing Muslims back to what they perceived as a pure path of Islam" (Hroub, 2012). The goal of these Islamic satellite channels lies at the heart of the 'Islamisation' endeavor; they did not show interest in challenging the corrupt political rulers in their countries (Hroub, 2012). 2 Statement of the Problem It is noticeable that there are not a lot of studies examining the Islamists media outlets whether Internet websites or Islamic satellite channels. "There are certain tendencies in the broadcasting, including religious tendencies, have not attracted as much attention and research as they really merit" (Hroub, 2012). Before the Arab Spring Islamists assumed that politics is corrupt, so that it would corrupt religion if politics brought into it (Hroub, 2012). After the Arab Spring and when the Islamists become the rulers, the Islamists started to control the media and there is a fear of reaching the masses in the country by their Islamic ideologies. "It is obvious that the Arab countries are mostly dominated by movements and discourses which are shaped or influenced by political Islam" (Hroub, 2012). After Arab Spring there is a worry of replacing the "police state" with "religious state", the Islamists can apply the religious or Islamic state by utilizing the mass media because audiences mainly convinced by preachers who speak according to religion (Hroub, 2012). Islamic broadcasting has been playing a greater role than other types of broadcasting in communicating values and promoting particular social and cultural models that correspond to the current political and cultural projects advocated by Islamic movements (Hroub, 2012). In the revolutionary cases of Arab Spring such as Egypt, Islamic political parties have invested a massive effort to mobilize the public in order to gain control of the political system of the country through mass media (Hroub, 2012). "Moderate and fanatical Islamists, in their pursuit of power and 3 control, have joined forces to deploy all the resources at their disposal, including, of course, mass media” (Hroub, 2012). This study aims to analyze and examine the content of mass media of Muslim Brotherhood group and Freedom and Justice Party. The theoretical framework of this research is the Agenda Setting Theory with the focus of media Priming. Also, this research aims to study how the Muslim Brotherhood group and Freedom and Justice Party use their media to present their ideologies and goals to the Egyptian public. The Islamization project of Islamic movements such as Muslim Brotherhood group, believes that the political system of the Muslim world should be re-Islamized, so they can use mass media to reach this goal (Hroub, 2012). "The Islamic movements focus on the use of all sorts of media to reach out more audiences and to deliver their message" (Hroub, 2012). 4 Chapter 2: Historical Background and Ideology 1- Hassan al-Banna and the Foundation of Muslim Brotherhood The Muslim brotherhood group was established by Hassan Al-Banna in 1928, he believed that the Islamic community at that time was at an important crossroads, and he maintained that Muslim countries would get their strength from applying the rules of Islam (Bajoria, 2012). Adhering to the vision of God’s supremacy, Al-Banna and his six friends established Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimoon, the Muslim Brotherhood, "The Brotherhood took the oath to be “troops [Jund] for the message of Islam, brothers in the service of Islam; hence, we are the Muslim Brothers" (Piason, 2007). The creator of the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Banna, represented an organization that equipped people with means of political expression, and a positive path towards social improvement by applying the rules of Islam (Piason, 2007). The Muslim Brotherhood group, at the beginning, wanted to present the Islamic rules and concepts in order to counter the phenomenon of Westernization; they were different from their prior generations of Egyptian Islamic reformers who preferred to imitate the Western countries to achieve development of Egypt (Zollner, 2009). Hasan al-Banna instead, promoted Islam as an inclusive and independent solution to the decline of Islamic development and civilization, and to counter Westernized Egyptians who were considered an apparent threat as the British colonialists (Ghanem, 1992). Al-Banna's ideology provided the Egyptian society with the essential method to be independent country, without the pressure of the West, by the use of Islam and the path that God provides (Piason, 2007). As Egyptians had rejected the Western imperialism in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood group had a rapid growth and 5 popularity; within twenty years the total number of members of the group reached two million and about 2,000 branches were established across Egypt (Piason, 2007). Al-Banna, supported the application of Islamic Shariah, and believed that the revival of Islam was the sole method of achieving the social and political regeneration of Egyptian society (Ghanem, 1992). The program of Brotherhood worked to identify the significance of Islamic Shariah and its importance to the social, economic, and political objectives of a lot of Egyptians (Zollner, 2009). Al-Banna promoted a number of economic developments that included the redistribution of land, the start of social benefit programs, and the support of local investment instead of foreign capital (Ghanem, 1992). Under al-Banna’s leadership, the Muslim Brotherhood developed into an organized group, providing social services for people under the morals of Islam, and participating in political struggle against the British and Zionist colonization (Ghanem, 1992). Throughout the Second World War, al-Banna supported the pro- Axis side, and then al-Banna and his followers were banished from Cairo (Ghanem, 1992). After this conflict, the political conflict gave a way to use violence by the Muslim Brotherhood group’s “Special Apparatus” (Ghanem, 1992). According to Rogan (2009), for the period of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, Muslim Brotherhood group dispatched volunteers troops to battle against the Israeli armed groups in Palestine (Islamopedia Online, Hassan al-Banna and the Early Muslim Brotherhood, 2012) Moreover, the members of Muslim Brotherhood group played a part in fighting against the British troops in Egypt and the group was charged of encouraging uprisings against the government (Ghanem, 1992). Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Sami al-Nukrashi confirmed a military law which led to the dissolving of Muslim 6 Brotherhood group on December 8, 1948 (Islamopedia Online, Hassan al-Banna and the Early Muslim Brotherhood, 2012). On December 28, 1948, al-Nukrashi was killed by a member of the Muslim Brotherhood group (Islamopedia Online, Hassan al- Banna and the Early Muslim Brotherhood, 2012). According to Rogan, on February 12, 1949, Al-Banna was assassinated by the police in Egypt. After Al-Banna was killed, his successor was Hassan al-Hodaybi who was elected as Murshied-Aam [general guide] of the group (Piason, 2007). 2- Muslim Brotherhood and King Farouk The Muslim Brotherhood group in the beginning supported King Farouk when he came to rule and they called him the Caliphate of Muslims because they believed that the King would apply the Islamic rule and government (Ramadan, 1982).