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Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media

It has been documented in the literature that media usually portrays refugees negatively, which affects how the public reacts to them. Consequently, organizations catering to refugees, referred to in this thesis as Refugee Concerned Organizations (RCOs), try to influence the media aiming to influenc...

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Main Author: Gheith, Shaimaa
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2024
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access_status_str Open Access
author Gheith, Shaimaa
author_browse Gheith, Shaimaa
author_facet Gheith, Shaimaa
author_sort Gheith, Shaimaa
collection Thesis
description It has been documented in the literature that media usually portrays refugees negatively, which affects how the public reacts to them. Consequently, organizations catering to refugees, referred to in this thesis as Refugee Concerned Organizations (RCOs), try to influence the media aiming to influence the public. So, they produce prepacked information and employ different communication tools. Using the agenda building theory, this research investigated the influence of communication tools used by RCOs on Egyptian media focusing on Facebook and news websites. Qualitative content analysis was conducted for 615 Facebook posts and 111 News reports and supplemented by semi-structured interviews with Communication Professionals from four RCOs. The findings suggest that the RCOs general representation of refugees in Egypt is positive and that they cover refugees’ stories frequently. However, they tend to focus more on showcasing their work and assistance to refugees. Regarding the media, the findings indicate that reporting on refugee issues is more extensive during emergencies and that the focus is usually on refugees’ numbers and the Egyptian government’s efforts. The main two sources of information for the media are the Egyptian government and the UNHCR. Moreover, the findings showed that the issues covered by the media were not always the same issues highlighted by RCOs. However, the substantive and affective attributes used by both showed more similarities. As such, it can be argued that the communication tools of RCOs had a minimal influence on the first level of agenda building but an influence on the second level was observed.
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institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:55.364Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2024
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spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-3382 Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media Gheith, Shaimaa It has been documented in the literature that media usually portrays refugees negatively, which affects how the public reacts to them. Consequently, organizations catering to refugees, referred to in this thesis as Refugee Concerned Organizations (RCOs), try to influence the media aiming to influence the public. So, they produce prepacked information and employ different communication tools. Using the agenda building theory, this research investigated the influence of communication tools used by RCOs on Egyptian media focusing on Facebook and news websites. Qualitative content analysis was conducted for 615 Facebook posts and 111 News reports and supplemented by semi-structured interviews with Communication Professionals from four RCOs. The findings suggest that the RCOs general representation of refugees in Egypt is positive and that they cover refugees’ stories frequently. However, they tend to focus more on showcasing their work and assistance to refugees. Regarding the media, the findings indicate that reporting on refugee issues is more extensive during emergencies and that the focus is usually on refugees’ numbers and the Egyptian government’s efforts. The main two sources of information for the media are the Egyptian government and the UNHCR. Moreover, the findings showed that the issues covered by the media were not always the same issues highlighted by RCOs. However, the substantive and affective attributes used by both showed more similarities. As such, it can be argued that the communication tools of RCOs had a minimal influence on the first level of agenda building but an influence on the second level was observed. 2024-06-15T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2338 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3382/viewcontent/Shaimaa_Mohamed_Hamdy__Gheith_Thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Agenda Building Refugees Media Facebook News Websites Communication Tools Egypt Journalism Studies Mass Communication Migration Studies Nonprofit Studies Organizational Communication Public Relations and Advertising Social Media
spellingShingle Agenda Building
Refugees
Media
Facebook
News Websites
Communication Tools
Egypt
Journalism Studies
Mass Communication
Migration Studies
Nonprofit Studies
Organizational Communication
Public Relations and Advertising
Social Media
Gheith, Shaimaa
Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media
title Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media
title_full Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media
title_fullStr Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media
title_full_unstemmed Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media
title_short Same Story, Different Narratives: The Influence of Refugee Concerned Organizations on Egyptian Media
title_sort same story different narratives the influence of refugee concerned organizations on egyptian media
topic Agenda Building
Refugees
Media
Facebook
News Websites
Communication Tools
Egypt
Journalism Studies
Mass Communication
Migration Studies
Nonprofit Studies
Organizational Communication
Public Relations and Advertising
Social Media
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/2338
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/3382/viewcontent/Shaimaa_Mohamed_Hamdy__Gheith_Thesis.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT gheithshaimaa samestorydifferentnarrativestheinfluenceofrefugeeconcernedorganizationsonegyptianmedia