Propaganda in Egyptian Electronic Newspapers’ Discourse Towards Hamas

Abstract

The study aims at identifying the nature and characteristics of propaganda towards Hamas in four Egyptian e-newspapers’ discourse, by revealing their themes, trends, primary sources, goals, techniques, and target groups; as well as the extent of agreement and difference between the newspapers in propaganda practices. The study is a descriptive, and employed two methodologies: survey and mutual relations. The sample consisted of Al-Ahram, Almasri Al-youm, Al-wattan, and Al-Youm7, while the time span extended from 2/7/2013 to 30/6/2014. The study concluded that the newspapers have focused on various propaganda themes; the most prominent was Hamas policy towards Egypt. Moreover, results showed that all newspapers have adopted a negative trend towards Hamas with an average of 86.8%, and have attempted to defame it by using several techniques, like Testimonial, Blaming, and De-legitimization. Interestingly, the results revealed the absence of a relationship between propaganda themes and their trends, and the existence of a relationship between propaganda goals and their techniques. However, it was observed that the newspapers have backed the Egyptian regime' stance from Hamas; not to mention their use of various propaganda strategies