”The military and people go hand in hand": framing the Egyptian military in Egyptian state media during summer 2013
Raita-aho, Sanna (2019)
Raita-aho, Sanna
2019
Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2019-05-28
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201907262755
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-201907262755
Tiivistelmä
In 2011, the Arab uprisings swept across the Middle East. Protest movements started by citizens managed to topple authoritarian rulers who had ruled the region for decades. Protesters demanded justice and freedom for citizens. In Egypt, the revolution was started by young Egyptian activists. The successful ousting of the president, Hosni Mubarak, led first to an Islamic government formed by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) under the leadership of Mohamed Morsi. In 2013, dissatisfaction led to massive streets protests Morsi and caused him being removed in a military coup. Abdel Fattah al Sisi, a colonel who led the military coup in 2013, was chosen to be president in spring 2014. Now the Egyptian military has been considered as the winner of the uprisings. The Egyptian opposition—both the young activists and Brotherhood supporters— has largely been silenced or forced from the political scene. At the same time, Egypt is considered even more authoritarian than before the uprisings.
The news media is central arena for political conflicts today, as conflict participants fight to get their message across the media. This study examines how the Egyptian State Information Agency (SIS) portrayed the events. The method of analysis is the framing analysis. Specifically, this thesis examines which kind of frames SIS employed when covering the Egyptian military and Egyptian nation. The empirical data of thesis consists of 45 SIS articles, which were published between June 30th and July 31th and collected from the SIS online archive. This thesis also includes review on previous literature on the Egyptian media, nationalism and the Egyptian military.
The main findings of this study are that SIS glorified the Egyptian military and framed it as the savior of the Egyptian people. The military was framed as neutral political actor which was guarding the revolution. Egyptian nation was presented being under threat, and the military was presented as the force which can bring stability to the country. Moreover, the news alienated political opponents and presented them as a threat to country, which justified the hard actions towards them. Moreover, the nationalist narratives and old historical events, such as the military coup of 1952, were reproduced to glorify the military. Therefore, SIS coverage was supportive towards the military, while ignoring or dismissing the other political actors.
The news media is central arena for political conflicts today, as conflict participants fight to get their message across the media. This study examines how the Egyptian State Information Agency (SIS) portrayed the events. The method of analysis is the framing analysis. Specifically, this thesis examines which kind of frames SIS employed when covering the Egyptian military and Egyptian nation. The empirical data of thesis consists of 45 SIS articles, which were published between June 30th and July 31th and collected from the SIS online archive. This thesis also includes review on previous literature on the Egyptian media, nationalism and the Egyptian military.
The main findings of this study are that SIS glorified the Egyptian military and framed it as the savior of the Egyptian people. The military was framed as neutral political actor which was guarding the revolution. Egyptian nation was presented being under threat, and the military was presented as the force which can bring stability to the country. Moreover, the news alienated political opponents and presented them as a threat to country, which justified the hard actions towards them. Moreover, the nationalist narratives and old historical events, such as the military coup of 1952, were reproduced to glorify the military. Therefore, SIS coverage was supportive towards the military, while ignoring or dismissing the other political actors.