Tracing Emerging Patterns of a New Era

This book probes the impact of an evolving relationship between news organizations and social media-equipped activists on the coverage of the Egyptian Revolution and its associated events. By looking at disparities in news coverage, it explores possible changes in journalism practices, and detects emerging patterns, particularly pertinent to journalist-source relationship and human rights reporting. While exploring possible changes in journalism practices, this book also tries to question whether the existing normative media typology frameworks have been disrupted and as a result would invite media scholars to revise their typology/ macro approach in understanding changes in journalism practices across different media environments. The book identifies three emerging patterns: a counter-elite sourcing practice, human rights-centered reporting and a disruption in existing normative media typology frameworks. If these patterns continue to develop and consolidate, they might be seen as early features of a new ear in journalism practices. The book takes the task of analyzing the news coverage of the Egyptian Revolution and its associated events by the Arabic and the English news sites of five international news organizations: Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, RT and XINHUA and looks at possible lexical consonance between activists' entries on social media and the non-attributed lexical choices identified in news stories. The book also offers insights given by more than 200 Egyptian activists and journalists who covered the Egyptian Revolution and its aftermath.