Mapping the “Arab Autumn”: A Framing Analysis of CBC and Al-Nahar Networks’ Coverage of Egypt’s Military Coup

Abstract

In the summer of 2013, Egypt went through a period of cataclysmic change as anti-Muslim Brotherhood protests engulfed major city squares across the nation. President Mohamed Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood, was ultimately removed from power by the military, just one year into his first term in office. This chapter examines news frames produced on the day of Morsi’s ouster by two of Egypt’s most prominent television news magazine shows—Al-Nahar Network’s “Akher Al-Nahar” (“The End of the Day”), and CBC Network’s “Huna Al-‘Aasima” (“This is the Capital”). The chapter looks at coverage of the July 3 protests and celebrations and attempts to unpack dominant frames of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian military, and violence. Results suggest that July 3 coverage on Akher Al-Nahar and Huna Al-Aasima framed anti-Morsi protests as celebrations of a popular revolution initiated by “the people,” and demonized the Muslim Brotherhood as a detested and small group that stood against “the (Egyptian) nation.” Specifically, the coverage “othered” the Brotherhood and framed them as violent, extreme, and disloyal to Egypt. This chapter raises important questions about the impact of imbalanced news coverage and government propaganda in authoritarian and quasi-authoritarian societies in general, and the Egyptian media environment in particular.