Assessing media roles in Egypt: A journalistic perspective on liberal media functions

Abstract

This study critically engages with four main basic normative media functions that are commonly adopted in democratic media systems and assesses their relevance and suitability to a post-uprising context like Egypt. By interviewing twenty journalists representing all forms of news outlets and ownership models, this study examines whether journalists see these normative functions as important to Egypt’s political context and/or potential democratization, whether and how they try to engage with them, and what are their perceived societal benefits and limitations. Our findings suggest that despite the historical influence of the liberal paradigm on journalism practice in Egypt, the perceived benefit of some of these normative media functions in Egypt is quite limited. Structural and societal factors appear to influence the perception of these functions, in addition to other factors related to the journalists’ views and perceptions. The study’s findings are discussed in light of research on de-westernizing media studies and the role of media in democratization.