Skip to main content

Rasha El-Ibiary

Future University ,Egypt., Political Mass Media, Associate Professor and Chair of the Political Mass Media Department

The American University In Cairo, Journalism and Mass Communication, Adjunct

Followers

167

Following

305

Public Views

Rasha El-Ibiary (PhD. Newcastle University, 2006) is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Political Mass Media Department, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Future University in Egypt. She is specialized in the thematic intersections of media and politics, including mediated gendered identities; cultural geography and geopolitics; imagery and memory; the politics of fear; media policies; censorship; and public diplomacy, among others. Her work was published in Digital Journalism, Global Media and Communication, the International Journal of Communication, Kome Journal, Communication and Society, Global Media Journal,
and Arab World Geographer. El-Ibiary has earned several training/pedagogy grants including Developing Journalism Education in the Middle East, Deutshe Welle Akademie, 2019; Training of Trainers (TOT) 2017-2018, EU Med-Culture program; and the Study in the US Institute (SUSI) in Media and Communication, program in 2017. She earned the Advanced TOT Diploma with Notting Hill College, UK, in 2021.
El-Ibiary is an active researcher in two global research projects: (1) Global Risk Journalism Hub, and (2) Journalistic Role Performance. She is also an editorial board member, Guest Editor and Reviewer in several academic journals, including Sage Open, the Journal of African Media Studies (JAMS), Journalism, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, and Frontiers in Communication, Political Communication.

less

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Rasha El-Ibiary

Rasha El-Ibiary, Associate Professor and Chair of the Political Mass Media department, Future University in Egypt

in Egypt. She is specialized in the thematic intersections of media and politics, including media... more

Development Journalism, Gender Sensitivity and Sustainability in Egypt: Analyzing the Women’s Voices project

KOME − An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry, 2020

Examining the concept of “development communication” and “development journalism” in the professi... more Examining the concept of “development communication” and “development journalism” in the professional development of women journalists in Egypt, this study analyzes the Women’s Voices Project undertaken by Deutsche Welle Akademy (DWA) in Egypt to develop the professional and gender sensitive skills of young women journalists. The project has taken place through a set of intensive professional trainings, leading to the establishment of the Masr El Nas website, intended to achieve sustainability or “media viability.” Testing the role of this “media development” project in developing the interpersonal and professional skills of women journalists and in promoting “development journalism,” through Masr El Nas, the methods used include in-depth interviews with the project managers, trainers and selected trainees, and a thematic content analysis of Masr El Nas, as a case study of development
journalism.
Research findings indicate there is no nation-wide impact for the project, since it has operated in a tight media environment with a variety of laws strangulating media freedom, as well as media development projects. The project, as a result, failed to achieve “media viability.” Yet, it could reach many of its small-scale goals, such as developing the interpersonal and professional skills of women journalists, enhancing gender sensitive reporting, using state-ofthe-art technology, reporting on the people, and engaging local communities and attempting to develop them, as the interviews indicated. The content analysis showed that stories about marginalized women were dominant on the website, as well as stories from Upper Egypt, a blind spot for mainstream media.
Keywords: Communication Development, Digital Media, Media Development, Development Journalism, Gender Sensitivity, Gender Sensitive Reporting

Analyzing the communicative strategies of Egyptian political influencers: content and discourse analyses of Twitter accounts

Communication & Society, 2020

The advantages of social media platforms as interactive information sources raise the importance ... more The advantages of social media platforms as interactive information sources raise the importance of examining how they are used by political digital opinion leaders to influence public perceptions. Twitter, especially, played a major role in Egypt's January 25 revolution facilitating news dissemination, public discussions and debates. Analyzing the communicative strategies of two Egyptian political influencers-Ammar Ali Hassan and Ezzedine Fishere-ten years after Egypt's political change, and the role they play in public discourse through their Twitter accounts, this research offers an overview of the current role played by Egyptian digital political influencers in influencing public opinion. Focusing on the content and discourse of their tweets for two months, October and November 2019, the digital political influencers were selected based on the number of followers divided by the amount of interactivity on their tweets, such as retweets and favorites. The unit of analysis is the tweet that received the largest amount of interactivity. Results showed that both influencers had a unidirectional opinion strategy. While Hassan's tweets, @ammaralihassan, seemed purposeless, not yielding any clear and valuable content to the reader, Fishere, @FishereEzzedine, was more outspoken and clearer in his communicative strategy, using evidence in defending human rights in Egypt and the Arab World. The analysis indicated more fact-based tweets by Fishere, who seems to play a more significant role in his communication network, despite minimal interaction.

The Real and the Virtual: “Mediatisation of Terror in Cyberspace: Scrutinizing Al-Qaeda's Media Strategy”

The Real and The Virtual , 2009

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2009. in The Real and the Virtual, ed. Daniel Riha and Anna Maj. http://www.int... more

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2011. Affective Imagery and Collective Memory: Discursive analysis of iconic images of pain

Global Media Journal , 2011

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2011. Questioning the Al-Jazeera Effect: Analysis of Al-Qaeda's media strategy and its relationship with Al-Jazeera

Global Media and Communication, 2011

Just as the highly debatable concept of 'the CNN Effect' denotes that visual news coverage can dr... more Just as the highly debatable concept of 'the CNN Effect' denotes that visual news coverage can drive foreign policy, the Al-Jazeera Effect is 'a paradigm of new media's influence' on global politics (which includes satellite television, the internet and all other networked information technologies). As a symbol of our new 'media-centric world', says Seib, Al-Jazeera 'fosters unprecedented cohesion in the worldwide Muslim com-munity' (Seib, 2008: ix). The concept of the Al-Jazeera Effect, suggests Seib, is used to describe all the uses of new media in global affairs, including democratization, terrorism and 'virtual states', by pushing at the limits of free media expression in the Arab/Muslim worlds. While the CNN Effect concept mainly assumes media-driven foreign policy in the West, the Al-Jazeera Effect concept generally refers to the direct impact of satellite television and the internet on Arab politics, including processes of Islamic-led change, the proliferation of terrorism and 'virtual states' (such as Al-Qaeda and Kurdistan), and possibly the fostering of democracy. This article aims to clear up the confusion by addressing some of the misconceptions (that have even attained the status of myth) related to: (1) the nature of the Arab media in the age of the satellite; (2) the Al-Jazeera Effect and socio-political change; and (3) Al-Jazeera's relationship to Al-Qaeda, and its place within Al-Qaeda's media strategy. The Arab media landscape There is a widely held assumption that the 'persistence of authoritarianism is the result of an uninformed citizenry, and that access to information will serve to enlighten the oppressed Arab people' (Fandy, 2007: 122). The myth of the Al-Jazeera Effect promotes the idea that the channel is 'the only free Arab independent station' and 'the most credible source of information for the Arab people'. As for the myths regarding

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2011. New Media, Geopolitics, and Terror: Discursive Analysis of Bush and Bin Laden's Rhetoric

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe , 2011

Emerging like a ghost or a phantom, the media played a central role in the rise and demise of Osa... more Emerging like a ghost or a phantom, the media played a central role in the rise and demise of Osama bin Laden. Despite his radicalism, his constant targeting and killing of civilians in both the Arab and the Western worlds, and the threat he posed to U.S. targets worldwide, much of the power attributed to bin Laden and Al-Qaeda was constructed discursively. By analyzing the mediated rhetoric of bin Laden and the United States and their media-utilization techniques, this study argues that both sides made use of mass media in promoting their respective ideological dichotomies of the world to further purely radical goals. To advance their respective political/mili-tary stratagems, both George W. Bush's and Osama bin Laden's geographical divisions of the world amplified their radical discourse, since the " clash of civilizations " rhetoric intersected with bin Laden's conceptualization of the " two worlds, " stressing the disparities between Muslims and the West, inflating fear, and intimidating and destabilizing the world. Three media-related factors have aided this process. The first is fixing the label " terrorism " on non-state actors while excluding state violence from being treated as such. Second is the extensive use of the media by " terrorists, " aided by the symbiotic relationship binding the media with the terrorists. Third is the convergence of media and communication technologies—allowing the Internet to carry text, audio, and audiovisual messages, downloadable in multiple formats. propaganda of the deed, clash of civilizations

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2017. Media Portrayal of Street Violence Against Egyptian Women: Women, Socio-Political Violence, Ineffective Laws and Limited Role of NGOs

IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication and Film , 2017

" Often ignored in media coverage of the Egyptian revolution is how protests led by labor unions ... more " Often ignored in media coverage of the Egyptian revolution is how protests led by labor unions – many of them women based labor unions in the manufacturing cities of Egypt – catalyzed the revolution, " says Nadine Naber. Women are at the heart of every social movement that happens in Egypt and the Arab world. Nevertheless, the local media predominantly keeps attacking victims of street violence and sexual harassment, holding them responsible for being harassed. Portraying women, in general, as submissive or oppressed directly and indirectly feeds into the continuing practice of street violence and sexual harassment against women in Egypt. With the alarming statistics of violence against women documented by local women's NGOs in recent years, this research argues that the negative, unethical and unprofessional media coverage of violence against women feeds into the systematic societal and state violence exercised against women, both in public and private places. It attempts to document the nature of local media portrayal of violence against women, outline its reasons and repercussions, and figure out attempts and possible solutions/recommendations to improve women's image in the Egyptian media. Through analyzing significant instances of media attacks against victims of sexual harassment in 2011 and 2015, and conducting in-depth interviews with anti-harassment experts, media professionals and renowned figures, it aims to find ways to counter the unfair socially-accepted justifications, and thus help limiting the actual violence exercised against women.

Rasha El-Ibiary, Associate Professor and Chair of the Political Mass Media department, Future University in Egypt

in Egypt. She is specialized in the thematic intersections of media and politics, including media... more

Development Journalism, Gender Sensitivity and Sustainability in Egypt: Analyzing the Women’s Voices project

KOME − An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry, 2020

Examining the concept of “development communication” and “development journalism” in the professi... more Examining the concept of “development communication” and “development journalism” in the professional development of women journalists in Egypt, this study analyzes the Women’s Voices Project undertaken by Deutsche Welle Akademy (DWA) in Egypt to develop the professional and gender sensitive skills of young women journalists. The project has taken place through a set of intensive professional trainings, leading to the establishment of the Masr El Nas website, intended to achieve sustainability or “media viability.” Testing the role of this “media development” project in developing the interpersonal and professional skills of women journalists and in promoting “development journalism,” through Masr El Nas, the methods used include in-depth interviews with the project managers, trainers and selected trainees, and a thematic content analysis of Masr El Nas, as a case study of development
journalism.
Research findings indicate there is no nation-wide impact for the project, since it has operated in a tight media environment with a variety of laws strangulating media freedom, as well as media development projects. The project, as a result, failed to achieve “media viability.” Yet, it could reach many of its small-scale goals, such as developing the interpersonal and professional skills of women journalists, enhancing gender sensitive reporting, using state-ofthe-art technology, reporting on the people, and engaging local communities and attempting to develop them, as the interviews indicated. The content analysis showed that stories about marginalized women were dominant on the website, as well as stories from Upper Egypt, a blind spot for mainstream media.
Keywords: Communication Development, Digital Media, Media Development, Development Journalism, Gender Sensitivity, Gender Sensitive Reporting

Analyzing the communicative strategies of Egyptian political influencers: content and discourse analyses of Twitter accounts

Communication & Society, 2020

The advantages of social media platforms as interactive information sources raise the importance ... more The advantages of social media platforms as interactive information sources raise the importance of examining how they are used by political digital opinion leaders to influence public perceptions. Twitter, especially, played a major role in Egypt's January 25 revolution facilitating news dissemination, public discussions and debates. Analyzing the communicative strategies of two Egyptian political influencers-Ammar Ali Hassan and Ezzedine Fishere-ten years after Egypt's political change, and the role they play in public discourse through their Twitter accounts, this research offers an overview of the current role played by Egyptian digital political influencers in influencing public opinion. Focusing on the content and discourse of their tweets for two months, October and November 2019, the digital political influencers were selected based on the number of followers divided by the amount of interactivity on their tweets, such as retweets and favorites. The unit of analysis is the tweet that received the largest amount of interactivity. Results showed that both influencers had a unidirectional opinion strategy. While Hassan's tweets, @ammaralihassan, seemed purposeless, not yielding any clear and valuable content to the reader, Fishere, @FishereEzzedine, was more outspoken and clearer in his communicative strategy, using evidence in defending human rights in Egypt and the Arab World. The analysis indicated more fact-based tweets by Fishere, who seems to play a more significant role in his communication network, despite minimal interaction.

The Real and the Virtual: “Mediatisation of Terror in Cyberspace: Scrutinizing Al-Qaeda's Media Strategy”

The Real and The Virtual , 2009

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2009. in The Real and the Virtual, ed. Daniel Riha and Anna Maj. http://www.int... more

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2011. Affective Imagery and Collective Memory: Discursive analysis of iconic images of pain

Global Media Journal , 2011

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2011. Questioning the Al-Jazeera Effect: Analysis of Al-Qaeda's media strategy and its relationship with Al-Jazeera

Global Media and Communication, 2011

Just as the highly debatable concept of 'the CNN Effect' denotes that visual news coverage can dr... more Just as the highly debatable concept of 'the CNN Effect' denotes that visual news coverage can drive foreign policy, the Al-Jazeera Effect is 'a paradigm of new media's influence' on global politics (which includes satellite television, the internet and all other networked information technologies). As a symbol of our new 'media-centric world', says Seib, Al-Jazeera 'fosters unprecedented cohesion in the worldwide Muslim com-munity' (Seib, 2008: ix). The concept of the Al-Jazeera Effect, suggests Seib, is used to describe all the uses of new media in global affairs, including democratization, terrorism and 'virtual states', by pushing at the limits of free media expression in the Arab/Muslim worlds. While the CNN Effect concept mainly assumes media-driven foreign policy in the West, the Al-Jazeera Effect concept generally refers to the direct impact of satellite television and the internet on Arab politics, including processes of Islamic-led change, the proliferation of terrorism and 'virtual states' (such as Al-Qaeda and Kurdistan), and possibly the fostering of democracy. This article aims to clear up the confusion by addressing some of the misconceptions (that have even attained the status of myth) related to: (1) the nature of the Arab media in the age of the satellite; (2) the Al-Jazeera Effect and socio-political change; and (3) Al-Jazeera's relationship to Al-Qaeda, and its place within Al-Qaeda's media strategy. The Arab media landscape There is a widely held assumption that the 'persistence of authoritarianism is the result of an uninformed citizenry, and that access to information will serve to enlighten the oppressed Arab people' (Fandy, 2007: 122). The myth of the Al-Jazeera Effect promotes the idea that the channel is 'the only free Arab independent station' and 'the most credible source of information for the Arab people'. As for the myths regarding

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2011. New Media, Geopolitics, and Terror: Discursive Analysis of Bush and Bin Laden's Rhetoric

The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe , 2011

Emerging like a ghost or a phantom, the media played a central role in the rise and demise of Osa... more Emerging like a ghost or a phantom, the media played a central role in the rise and demise of Osama bin Laden. Despite his radicalism, his constant targeting and killing of civilians in both the Arab and the Western worlds, and the threat he posed to U.S. targets worldwide, much of the power attributed to bin Laden and Al-Qaeda was constructed discursively. By analyzing the mediated rhetoric of bin Laden and the United States and their media-utilization techniques, this study argues that both sides made use of mass media in promoting their respective ideological dichotomies of the world to further purely radical goals. To advance their respective political/mili-tary stratagems, both George W. Bush's and Osama bin Laden's geographical divisions of the world amplified their radical discourse, since the " clash of civilizations " rhetoric intersected with bin Laden's conceptualization of the " two worlds, " stressing the disparities between Muslims and the West, inflating fear, and intimidating and destabilizing the world. Three media-related factors have aided this process. The first is fixing the label " terrorism " on non-state actors while excluding state violence from being treated as such. Second is the extensive use of the media by " terrorists, " aided by the symbiotic relationship binding the media with the terrorists. Third is the convergence of media and communication technologies—allowing the Internet to carry text, audio, and audiovisual messages, downloadable in multiple formats. propaganda of the deed, clash of civilizations

El-Ibiary, Rasha. 2017. Media Portrayal of Street Violence Against Egyptian Women: Women, Socio-Political Violence, Ineffective Laws and Limited Role of NGOs

IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication and Film , 2017

" Often ignored in media coverage of the Egyptian revolution is how protests led by labor unions ... more " Often ignored in media coverage of the Egyptian revolution is how protests led by labor unions – many of them women based labor unions in the manufacturing cities of Egypt – catalyzed the revolution, " says Nadine Naber. Women are at the heart of every social movement that happens in Egypt and the Arab world. Nevertheless, the local media predominantly keeps attacking victims of street violence and sexual harassment, holding them responsible for being harassed. Portraying women, in general, as submissive or oppressed directly and indirectly feeds into the continuing practice of street violence and sexual harassment against women in Egypt. With the alarming statistics of violence against women documented by local women's NGOs in recent years, this research argues that the negative, unethical and unprofessional media coverage of violence against women feeds into the systematic societal and state violence exercised against women, both in public and private places. It attempts to document the nature of local media portrayal of violence against women, outline its reasons and repercussions, and figure out attempts and possible solutions/recommendations to improve women's image in the Egyptian media. Through analyzing significant instances of media attacks against victims of sexual harassment in 2011 and 2015, and conducting in-depth interviews with anti-harassment experts, media professionals and renowned figures, it aims to find ways to counter the unfair socially-accepted justifications, and thus help limiting the actual violence exercised against women.