49 Country Report: Information Network

Information Network

Traditional:

Egypt Independent: This newspaper is one of the few foreign owned publication companies in Egypt that focuses on providing Egyptian news and news that focuses on news involving Egyptian affairs in the MENA region and on the international scene in English without any political ties to the Egyptian government. The website focuses on providing news covering dynamic events in the country, starting in 2009 and becoming a print newspaper in 2011 following political protests and riots. So, while Egypt Independent is mainly structured around a news website but also functions in real print and focuses on covering higher quality coverage on political, social, cultural, and economic issues.

It is accessed at https://egyptindependent.com/ and on twitter @EgyIndependent

I chose this site for its consistent coverage of Egyptian for a spread of topics without any ties to the government or hindrance of censorship, which is a problem with Egyptian media. To stay up to date, I have bookmarked the twitter page and the news site’s article pages.

Asian News Monitor: This online news source is a news stream source found in online journals that focuses on news articles covering Middle Eastern and Asian news stories. The source gathers and stores media coverage from various sources that deal with issues covering economic, cultural and political issues in the area of coverage. The source is in English and is found in several online journal databases.

It can be found in https://www.proquest.com/internationalnews1 and other similar databases

I chose this media because of its consistent uploading of news covering the area, especially Egyptian news that has ramifications for the rest of its region.

Al Bawaba: This newspaper is a Jordan-based publication that primarily focuses on covering news topics related to or located in the Middle Eastern region. The paper was founded in 2000 and covers all topics found in a conventional widespread large scale paper, including social news, sports, politics, local news, and finance. The website is in English but there is an Arabic version of the paper. Al Bawaba is known for its large-scale aggregation and distribution of press releases to the rest of the area and to NGOs as it’s the largest newspaper to do so in the Middle East.

I chose this media because it focuses on all Middle Eastern news and can provide a look into Egyptian news from another Arab nation’s perspective, especially one that is so close to Egypt.

This news site is found at: https://www.albawaba.com/

The New Arab: The newspaper is an independent and nonpartisan newspaper covering progressive topic in the Middle East such as human rights and political freedom in the region. The paper is London-based and ran by a UK media company but boasts a large multinational staff and a large pool of Middle Eastern North African journalist information system. The site is committed to news that affects the youth populations of the region as well as marginalized groups.

I chose this website because of the focus of the paper as well as its status and safety it has of providing independent news about the region. The main draw of the website is the inclusion of stories focusing on young and marginalized perspectives, which many newspapers often do not include or do not promote to include.

This news site is found at: https://www.newarab.com/

New Media:

Al Jazeera Blog (English): The blog site for Al Jazeera news publisher in Arabic and is easily translated into English. The site is a blog site sponsored by Al Jazeera which is an Arab focused news service that provides sourced articles and is updated regularly from many sources and publishes them to avoid censorship by governments. The site and newspaper do draw criticism from reports of financial backing and sponsorship by the Qatari government among other Middle Eastern Nations. This financial influence does bring the company into question for the soundness of their integrity by other, mostly western, critics.

The site is at ://www.aljazeera.net/blogs/

The Guardian (Online): The news source provides free online and independent news online in English and is based in London. News covers many topics from countries all over the world. I chose this website because of its independence and the coverage of Egyptian political news without consequence of state retaliation.

The guardian is found at https://www.theguardian.com/us

Egyptian Streets: This online news website is a news media organization found in online blog and journal resources that produces articles addressing local and nationwide news stories throughout Egypt and providing a platform for news stories to be shared with interaction from people in the Middle Eastern North Africa (MENA) region. The news is gathered from both official organizations and on the ground perspectives that focus on providing an unmanipulated telling of online stories. The website was founded by Mohamed Khairat in 2012 and has provided a safe medium for activists, academics, and journalists to produce their articles for consumption. The site is in English as well as Arabic and has a younger more progressive leaning than state media sources in Egypt. Most of its audience is Egyptian and the website receives funding by international organizations like AIESEC and UNDP. I chose this source because it provides lots of articles from both formal and informal sources about topic in Egypt while maintaining independent media status.

Egyptian Streets is found at https://egyptianstreets.com/egyptianstreets/

Informed Comment: This online blog site is an American sourced media site in English that is found in certain blog databases. The site promotes content focused on geopolitical topics sourced from analysts, academics, and journalists. The site boasts its independent status of publishing, stating that it does not receive funding from corporate boards or think tanks. The editor in chief of the website is Juan Cole, an extensively experienced academic journalist and posts are created by independent contributors and posted by the editorial team.  I chose this source because topics in Egypt are discussed by independent accredited academics and journalists focusing on the topic of geopolitically important news.

Informed Comment is found at: https://www.juancole.com/

MENASource: This online multimedia series is sponsored by Atlantic Council, a media forum specializing in international affairs. The primary objective of MENASource is to provide a platform for Middle Eastern perspectives on major issues being dealt with across the region. MENASource’s editor is Holly Degras, and the news is primarily provided in English. Posts are shared by sources in the Middle East as well as Staff of the site and the media is curated towards maintaining a full perspective of events in the region. I selected this source because the site provides several different types of sources to fill its catalog besides regular news stories and blog posts.

MENASource is found at: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/category/blogs/menasource/

Social Media:

Twitter user @moneimpress: I chose this social media source because of the up-to-date coverage of on the ground of egyptian news and political happenings. Abdelmoneim Mahmoud leans towards critical of Egypt’s crackdown on journalism and political protesting. I chose this source to get a personal source of news and opinion about Egypt’s actions from an Egyptian journalist.

Twitter for @MadaMasr : I chose this social media source because the organization provides an independent English and Arabic coverage of events in Egypt and posts news stories from its journalists. The twitter page for this newspaper is especially important because the actual newspaper was censored and banned from the country of Egypt from spreading their news coverage in the nation. MadaMasr takes critical stances towards actions by the Egyptian government and promotes the articles and stories by their own journalists as well as other well-known activists. The source provides a crucial access to more formal Arabic and English media on social media, where it is better accessed by Egyptians compared to its online newspaper.

Twitter page of EIPR @EIPR : This social media source provides regular updates on topics and news stories going on in Egypt in Arabic. Most of the media posted links back to their website but also provides outside information in the posts online. The media page covers mostly news centered around important detainment and releases of journalists, activists and other citizens to highlight the abuse of power by the Egyptian government. I chose this social media page because the source provides information only in Arabic and allows access to Arabic sources and media.

Data Sources:

United Nations Human Development Report 2021/2022: This data report covers the human development covering data that indexes the development of human rights, gendered equality and rights, and the overall security of human welfare and action.

I chose this report because of the extensive information on the human well-being of people all over the world and compares states’ ability to provide for their population. It provides a framework for comparing the state of Egypt and its performance ability.

Pdf can be found at: https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22

World Bank DataBank: This report compiles all data available to the World Bank: an international and intergovernmental body that works towards providing funding towards development in developing nations and economies around the world. The data compiled by the World Bank covers a broad spectrum of data topics and includes forecasts for certain data including economic growth and climate change.

I chose this report because it provides an up to date and heavily funded survey that provides basic information on Egypt, especially when information from the country is often underreported by its government.

Databank is found at: https://data.worldbank.org/country/egypt-arab-rep

Country Watch: This web source is a gathered set of data that provides both private and public interests information that is country specific. Country Watch is available in several languages and provides a heavily in-depth look into a vast array of topics focused on specific countries. The site is operated by the organization Country Watch which functions as a service to all forms of business, academic, journalistic, and personal interests.

I chose this source of data as it provides a heavy in-depth set of data from Egypt as a specific country and is easily used in reports as it gives important figures to data questions.

CountryWatch found at: http://www.countrywatch.com.proxy.lib.ohiostate.edu/intelligence/countryreviews?countryid=52

Unfreedom Monitor: This web source provided by Global Voices is a multilanguage servicing data set that monitors and compiles reports of actions taken by governments that is defined as threatening to one’s personal freedoms. The site operates as a spreadsheet containing all found instances and articles on the actions taken by governments against informational freedoms, especially in regards to web information freedom.

I chose this source of data to gather instances and articles that directly correlate with the researched topic of my final project, especially as the topic of government censorship relates to the actions taken by Egypt over the past decade or so.

Data is found at: https://airtable.com/shrOdQb22l6gKghDn/tbltByIfM0LFGmAzz/viw3l3sL64dbcYdlC?blocks=bipHPM5tbRKCqOc8S

Audio:

Radio France Internationale (English): This media site provides audio podcast coverage of news over the world in French and in other languages. I chose this option because the site consistently provides free public news over global and regional issues in audio format and is regularly updated online.

The website address is at: https://www.rfi.fr/en/

Al Jazeera YouTube Live (English): This media site on YouTube provides a 24-hour live feed of the news coverage that Al Jazeera provides daily to watchers all over the world. Stories are from all over the globe but are from the prospectives of Al Jazeera reporters. I chose this option because while I may not have access to a news stream via television from Egypt, I can access this resource in my language that is from the same region and often covers region specific topics.

The live feed can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCNeDWCI0vo

Al Watan YouTube: This page on YouTube uploads a regular update by Al Watan news over issues covered in their news articles. The page offers videos covering news stories and other Egyptian topics like lifestyle and social media. The newspaper that uploads with this channel is Independent and fully in Arabic. I chose this resource as it provided news in Arabic that is going on in Egypt and covered topics besides the normal geopolitical or larger national scoped issue.

The YouTube page can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@ElwatannewsGate/featured