Social media in Egyptian newspapers:
Hanaa Farouk Saleh
Associate professor
Faculty of mass communication,
Cairo university
* In
Egypt and the Arab world social media
had brought a lot of surprises, by changing
political theater and changing game rule in so
called “Arab spring”. Before 25th January
revolution, from 2006, social media had played
a vital role in mobilizing people to participate
in hundreds of protests against the Mubarak
regime When it emerged in 2004 that Mubarak
might transfer power directly to his son.
* Egyptians
have been quick to take up the
opportunities for activism and citizenship
offered by new digital media technologies.
* Just
before the revolution “We Are All Khaled
Said.” page gave the chance to public opinion to be
more aware as additional information becomes
available to more people within the public sphere,
participants discuss more topics, debate, and
advocate for.
* The page caught on and, in the weeks before the
revolution, the page had more than 350,000
followers who were invited to protest against the
regime on 25 January 2011. Many of these followers
replaced their personal pictures on Facebook with
images of Saeed’s face (pre-and/or post-death).
The influence of the social media was exaggerated,
giving Facebook credit for starting the revolution.
Indeed, social media were applauded. Protestors all
over Egypt started carrying banners denouncing the
government-owned media and calling them “liars.”
In the meantime, the primary sources of news for
Egyptians became Al Jazeera and political talk
shows on other satellite channels, as well as social
media.
* After June 30 social media role decreased, Still one
source of information, but not very valuable as it
can be used to harm a person's reputation and
image, used for blackmailing, tool of propaganda
and political interest, spreading rumors, and
sometimes panic distributor: by publishing false
information stressing catastrophe such as Nile water
pollution, contagion from disease, death of public
figures… etc.
* While past journalist research do not assess how
often journalists are using social media for
journalistic purposes, This study considered the
frequency of use an important consideration given
the possibility of a discrepancy between perceived
social media's importance and actual use of it and
evaluation of credibility implications which may
harm journalist's job and media ethics, particularly
in the aftermath of January 2011, professional
journalists were sometimes eager to publish first
and verify later.
* The research aims to know How frequently Egyptian
journalists use social media as a professional tool?
Did they perceive it as a credible source? Whether
their social media use affected by gender, age,
length of professional career, specialization and
media ownership… to understand the effect of
social media on newsroom organization and news
distribution in traditional print newsrooms in Egypt.
* However,
there have been few attempts to
demonstrate empirically the linkage between
journalists’ evaluations of social media’ credibility
and their professional use of it. Egyptian journalists
have not received much research attention in
Western academic circles. In spite of media's role in
history and its development status. Most past
studies on studies of online news and social
media credibility, focus mainly on citizens as the
evaluators (e.g. Bucy, 2003; Flanagin and Metzger,
2000; Johnson and Kay, 1998,2002; Schweiger,
2000). Therefore, this study fills a gap in the
literature, which in turn can help us to understand
the relationship between traditional and online
journalism.
H1:There is a positive relationship between
social media credibility and journalists adoption
of it as a source of information in their work.
H2. Demographic and informational variables
(gender / age / profession / Education
/specialization / Years of Experience / position )
affect the relationship between social media
credibility and journalists reliable on it and
social media credibility.
* H3.
There is a strong correlation between
newspaper ownership patterns and the use of
social media, and trust on it as a source of
information.
* As an exploratory research, the study aims to
answer the following questions:
RQ1. For what reasons did journalists use social
media? (News gathering, news reporting, collecting
public opinions, interviewing…etc.)?
RQ2-What are the most common social media forms
used
by
Egyptian
journalists?
RQ3- How credible is these tools for journalistic
profession?
RQ4- What are the advantages and challenges
resulting from this dependency on social media?
RQ5-Are there any standards which guide journalists’
use of social media?
RQ6-are there any differences in usage due to
different newspaper's ownership? (Governmental/
party/private)?
RQ7- Are there differences in the use of the means of
social media within the journalistic institutions and
why? Position, age, gender, specialty, years of
experience...?
RQ8- Who does not use these means and why?
RQ9--is there a difference in the use of these tools
before the January 25 revolution and afterwards?
A cross-sectional survey of journalists from Egypt was
conducted during two month Period in February and
March 2015.
The researcher use non probability sample of readily
accessible
journalists
working
in
Egyptian
newspapers, the use of a purposive or non-random
sampling strategy is appropriate for fulfilling the
stated purpose of this study. This study used
purposeful sampling to focus only on users who
engage with social media, as opposed to general
sampling. Intentional efforts were made to reach a
wide variety of genders, ages and educational
backgrounds.
* A total of 400 journalists were invited to participate
in the study. Only 26.25 % participated and
finished questionnaire correctly using face to face
interview, and online survey, Data were also
collected
from
newsroom
managers
too,
because they are responsible for developing
organizational policies and control editorial
decision. A total of 42 (40%) newsroom
managers was invited to participate in the research.
A total of 18 newspapers was represented in the
sample. The survey of journalists was conducted in
February & march 2015.A survey was sent via social
media and face to face interview in each
organization’s newsroom, two months after survey
were mailed, 26.25 % (N =105) of the 400 journalists
had participated, representing print media, private,
government and independent ownership. The
questionnaire was administered in Arabic.
* The
dependent variable is social media credibility.
In recognizing that credibility is best measured as a
multidimensional construct, this study followed the
credibility measurements of earlier studies,
Respondents were asked to rate the degree
of believability, fairness, accuracy and depth of
social media message, I added criteria to test
social media credibility which based on media type:
traditional and new media, and social media
platforms, and source type (official, specialized,
public), site genre (specialized, public, private) on
a three-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 3
(very).
* Another questionnaire portion was devoted to
measure social media credibility, journalists and
managers were asked questions to know which
social media platform credible as a mean for news
reporting purposes and how they use it in
journalistic work.
* One
question asked respondents if they use social
media for journalistic purposes, the second
question asked whether the organization had social
media guidelines, 3-point-agreement scale (3 =
strongly agree, 2 = neither agree nor disagree, 1 =
strongly disagree) was also used to measure items
focusing on the respondents’ beliefs about using
social media as reporting tools.
* Additionally,
an open-ended question was posed to
“non-adopters”; the item asked respondents to
describe their reason(s) for rejecting social media
as reporting tools.
Descriptive Statistics
*A
total of 105 (of 400 contacted) newspaper
journalists from 18 newspapers participated,
representing a response of 26.25%. the average age for
reporters (M = 36.17, SD = 12.44) 75.2% of
respondents was male, young, their age less than 30
(46.5%), Their experience at work less than 5
years (50%), and managers‘ experiences 15years(30%).
They are essentially working in print version (45.7%)
versus (40%) in electronic version and (14.3%) in
both versions.
* They
use social media for journalistic purposes
(50.5%), and personal matter (35.2%) and (14.3%) use
it for both purposes.
* 62.6%
was graduated from mass communication
faculty. Data was collected from three types of
newspapers, governmental: 40 (38.1%). Party press:
20 (19%), private: 45 (42.9%).
* 100%
of participants use social media in general to
gather information (22.3%), contact friends (21.8%),
explore public opinion (21%), learn new things
(19.5%) and finally pass time (15.2%).
* 90.5 % of journalists use it for journalistic purposes
which are: getting ideas (20.2%), publishing
articles (17.8%), searching, background(17.1%),
contacting sources (14%), getting photos (11.6%),
reading comments (10.9%) and finally contacting
readers (7.9%).
* Facebook, as the largest social networking site with
1.44 billion users (Facebook, march 2015), was the
most commonly used social media platform by
participants (33.8%), followed by YouTube (24.2%),
twitter (22.6%), google+ (14.2%), Instagram (3%) and
finally my space (0.7%). Egyptian journalists rely on
social media to cover local events (74.4%) more
than international (23.2%), and to get hard
news (55.7%) than soft news (44.2%).
* The
25th
January
revolution confirms social media's importance in the
profession, (86%) begun uses these tools in the
work after the revolution.
* 9.5%
didn’t use social media for journalistic
purposes, mainly because of lack of trust
(40%), using unprofessional source and manner
(20%), sites are controlled by biased political
power and serve political interest (20%) and
finally news exaggeration and propaganda tools
(20%). Surveys from Shanghai had similar
findings, As Liu (2011) explains, Chinese
suspicion towards the Internet as the source of
news, might come from their uncertainty about
website independence, website background, its
professional and ethical standards, and
policies.
Social media credibility:
* YouTube
was the most credible social media source
for journalists(44.2%), followed by google+(20%), twitter
(17.8%), Facebook(11.5%), and finally LinkedIn (6.3%)
* YouTube
credibility seems normal because journalists
measure credibility by using different criteria such as
videos contain sound and photos which present a factual
event from their point of view. A study results show that
journalists were highly attuned to the need to evaluate
the credibility of information they shared with their
followers. That instead of relying on traditional
journalistic norms, they tended to use ad hoc criteria,
such as whether they knew the source, or whether the
information included visual elements. This behavior fits
with a long history of perceptions of photos and videos as
“true” (Becker, 1991)43 More research must explore the
decrease of Facebook (called recently Fakebook) as a
credible source in spite of heavy using and daily
navigation.
* Journalist
trust more specialized sites (55.8%) than
public one(35.8%) and private one was the least
credible
(8.4%)
Journalists put criteria to help them in
judging site's credibility, which are site reputation
(28.8%), the source used in it (20.1%), site goals and
interests (18.3%), currencies and instant updates
and corrections (13.3%), site fame (11.4%)
and finally numbers of followers (0.7%)
* Journalists
trust more specialized sources (37.2%),
and official sources (34.8%), followed by
public
source,
but
in
a
small
percentage (8.5%), social and traditional media
share the same position (7.7%) and finally new
media (3.8%)
Social media Advantages and challenges:
* Social media, from
a journalist's point of view, represent
a lot of advantages to the profession (90.1%), social
media present different opinions (11.8%), it gave services
without time limit or space(11.1%), it helps journalist as a
new way to publish their opinions, discuss social
problems,
various
sources
and
accessible
information(10.4%), journalists can use it as a platform to
express their opinions (9.5%), and viewing opinions similar
to them, (9.1%), easy access to sources (8.5%) and finally
helping them in choosing ideas (8.1%)
* At
the same time journalists saw a number of
disadvantages in social media, and the most important
one is the lack of credibility (20.7%), being
biased (17.2%), being unofficial source (16%), impossible
to
check
its
factual
part
(14.5%),
bring
rumors (13.7%), privileged for youth (9.8%), express
opinion of political power with special interest(7.8%)
Social media guidelines:
* In
the total reporter sample, 65 of the 105
respondents indicated that social media guidelines
were in place, representing 62 % of the reporter
sample. the editorial guidelines represent the main
guideline emerging from editorial policy (40.4%),
followed by ethical consideration (30.9%), and
finally political one (28.5%)
Future of social media
* Egyptian
journalists hold an optimistic view toward
social media future in the profession, 66.4% affirm
that it will take an increase in importance in the
journalistic world versus 23.2% predict the stability
of its situation as it is today, 8.4% hold a pessimistic
view confirming the decrease of social media use.
* According
to statistical analysis, H1 was supported, as
statistical analyses confirm the positive relation between
social media credibility and dependent on social
media (R=. 291, P:. 004) and using social media
for journalists and reporting purposes. (R=. 315,P:. 002)
* H2 was supported partially, there was no difference in social
media credibility and usage for professional purposes due to
gender,
specialization,
content
type
(soft/hard),
proximity (local/international), year of experience and
position. Except for age, all demographic variables seem not
related to credibility or social media use. There is a relation
between the credibility of social media platforms and age,
youth, under 30, tend to trust more different platforms
especially YouTube than older journalists (M= 62, P.004). Age
still the most influential variable when studying social media
use, there is a difference between generation, young
journalists, under 30, rely heavily on social media and use it
frequently for journalistic and personal goals. Also A
relation exists between age and message content credibility:
young journalists also tend to have credibility in social media
messages comparing with older and more experienced
journalists.(Chi square2. 3529, P.004)
* H3
was
supported,
Using
one
way
Anova, Data confirms a relation between the
credibility of social media platforms and ownership,
journalists in private newspaper trust more
web
platforms,
especially
YouTube
than
governmental and partisan one. (M= 42, P.003)
* Analysis
proves a relation between ownership and
editorial guidelines, governmental newspapers try
to control social media use by using editorial
guidelines, as a kind of indirect censorship, which
restrict choices especially in the political
domain. (Chi-square=13.381, P.001)
* Statistical
analysis also shows a positive relation
between social media messages credibility and
years of experience, young journalists trust more
social media messages, than old journalists.(Chisquare=2. 3155, P.001), At the same time there is a
positive relation between using official source and
experience, old journalists trust more official
sources (M=42, P.001)
* Analysis
shows also that journalists working in
electronic version trust more electronic and social
media than those working in print version which in
turn trust more traditional sources. (M=67, P.001).
As a consequence, it seems logic to find that
journalists working in electronic version trust more
different kind of social media more than those
working in print version. (M=58. P. 003
* The
study represents the first non-western context
that attempt to ascertain the role of social media
on the Egyptian journalistic world.
* Egyptian
journalists are likely to hold relatively
positive views on social media, and they rely on it
heavily to do the job, and their extensive
use conforms with social media credibility, which
contradict with past research results stressing the
journalist's negative views on social media, due to
the need to protect the authority of their own
profession.
* The
findings suggest that journalists are adopting
social media at a high rate, and that YouTube is the
most trustful type. This use represent a promising
shift from traditional to interactive source in
Egyptian newspapers, and this trend is still in
progress, social media represent the start point for
journalists, they make decision using it to choose
ideas then continuing their investigative reporting
using different sources and tools, while
documenting using available databases.
* Egyptian Journalists use social media, mainly to get
ideas, publishing articles, searching, background,
contacting sources, getting photos, reading
comments and finally to a lesser extent contacting
readers, which stress the idea of so called
،audience distribution, regarding media interaction
with readers, rather than ،audience participation’.
* One
important findings were the demographic
variables Except for age, ownership and experience,
didn’t make a difference in perceiving social media
credibility. Social media are as credible as
traditional media and sources in Egyptian context,
journalists hold a positive view of it and evaluate it
positively as valuable tools. Even full of rumors and
unprofessional manner, propaganda, political
control… etc.., Egyptian journalists use heavily
social media means as a source of ideas which will
be completed later and checked using different
sources. The result supports the finding that
demographics are weak predictors for media
credibility (Johnson and Kaye, 2000b, 2002).
* This
fact is true in different media ownership in
Egypt, the difference between them exist not in
using social media, but the way of using it, as a
source of ideas for governmental newspapers and a
tool for investigative report in the private one.
Social media represent a complementary tool for
journalistic work which mean new opportunity and
chances for journalism in the future. Journalists
perceive
social
media
not
as
a
threat
or
replacement,
but
a
complementary tool for their work, it gave them
ideas, facilitate communication with readers and
help
connecting
sources,
provide
instant
feedback… etc..
* It
seems to be a promising future based on the
findings confirming the increasing use of social
media in the work routine (gathering information,
contacting
sources,
ideas,
researching…), newspapers begun to hire a social
media editor, to surf social media and serve
reporting, and there is no editorial policy prevent
journalists from using social media. There exist
indices which confirm my optimistic view according
to the findings: 92.6% of journalists confirm that
social
media
has
become
an
important
tool for journalistic routine, and 90.5% assure that
they
can’t
work
without
social
media,
it represents an essential tool for journalistic work.
* This study contributes to media credibility research
by examining journalists criteria to evaluate
credibility of social media, generally credibility
research focus more on audience credibility
criteria, but journalists aren’t only audience, they
are opinion leaders and they are responsible, as
people representative, to judge the credibility and
seeking truth. The study proposes model need more
test in a different context, I believe that when
journalists come to trust social media their
assessment is based on five dimensions which help
in measuring credibility from a journalist's point of
view: source: which include official, public and
expert, message with famous criteria such as
objectivity, fairness, balance, accuracy…, media
type: traditional versus new media, social media
platforms: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter,… etc., and
finally site owner: specialized, public, private.
* One
of the most interesting findings is that social
media had narrow gap between poor and rich
media organization, although new technology had
wider the gap between rich and poor institution,
especially political party press, which suffer a
lot of a large number of challenges, social media
had restrict this gap, by giving journalists in
different newspapers type the opportunity to
compete using an important tool and give primacy
to content, meaning that ideas is more important
in the media market and more valuable than the
form. So Not only Marginal groups such as women,
poor and political opposition benefit from social
media, but also journalists which try to serve
people as well.
*it
is quite interesting to note a balance in
media credibility from traditional media
sources to the Internet and social media
sources, especially young journalists, as
users gave a higher credibility rating to
social media sites as traditional media,
despite their lack of the journalistic norm
of objectivity.