The aim of the project is to examine the news organisations use of social media in building a sustainable democratic public sphere in the post revolution era in Egypt. The project builds on my dissertation Journalism in a Network: Role of ICTs in Egyptian Newsrooms where I studied the convergence of ICTs into mainstream news media. The dissertation further studied journalists’ utilization of new media, especially social media, in creating a democratic network sphere that eventually lead to the 25 January revolution in Egypt.
The opening months of 2011, the world witnessed a series of turmoil events in Egypt that soon lead to uprisings toppling President Mubarak regime. The Egyptian revolution was, by far, the most media exposed event in the Middle East, not only because of Egypt’s position as a main political hub in the region, but also for journalists using different forms of media –especially social media- to voice Egyptian opposition to the world. Even with the Egyptian government shutting Internet lines, imprisoning activists, blocking media websites, confiscating newspapers, cutting off mobile communications, and scrambling satellite signals to limit coverage of the events, Egyptian journalists circumvented government pressure to voice their cause online that lead many label the Egyptian uprising as the ‘Facebook’ or the ‘Twitter’ revolution.
Since 2011, the utilisation of social media has irrevocably changed the nature of the traditional public sphere. One can see the Egyptian online society as a multiplicity of networks. Audiences started to provide detailed descriptions of Egyptian street politics, posting multimedia material, generating public interest, and reinforcing citizen power and democracy. This trend changed the way audiences consumed news, with traditional media, (especially independent and opposition) started to access online information to develop their media content and to escape government control.
In transitional societies moving towards democracy, such as Egypt, political development is a central topic which journalists mediate with their audience. Indeed, journalists inform the audience and facilitate informed choices as ‘gatewatchers’, not as watchdog ‘gatekeepers’, in the power struggle between audience, media and politics.
Between 2011-2012, several media organisations started to expand their presence to social media so that, as well as providing news content, they also provided a ‘space’ for interactivity. In Egypt’s democratisation initiative, the convergence of social media into mainstream media perhaps perform the most critical function, playing the role of a mediator in information transactions within the society. Traditional media, especially independent media, started to utilize social media as an alternative source for information and a platform to bridge between events on the streets and the Internet. This convergence has developed the role of the journalism in Egypt, altering it from simply reporting about the political process to instead being an active participant in shaping, influencing the political process. However, since 2012 there has been divergence of the use of social media inside newsrooms with more government interference in newsroom operations.
Social media –especially those on Facebook- became the ‘new’ playground for political parties, activists, and groups from various ideologies creating ‘online spaces of flows’ to cater for the emerging needs of the readers. Post revolution political actors started to invest in creating Facebook pages to attract communities and to enable these communities to interact with each other’s ideas.
Ahmed El Gody, post doc at Umeå University