Abstract

After the police withdrawal in January 2011 from Egypt’ streets, Egyptians tasted another level of fear of crime. Media coverage played a visible role in heightening people’s fear of crime with its intensive and completely uncensored coverage of crime scenes. Nowadays, it has become a common TV News practice to show footage of dead bodies and graphic scenes of violent acts during riots. This study attempted to explore the extent to which scenes of people getting assaulted, kidnapped, tortured, and killed on air cultivates fears inside viewers, specifically youth. The concept resonance occurs when the impact of television amplifies with the real life facts of a specific social group, an example of which is local news broadcasting numerous violent messages related to viewers’ communities which are dissimilar to real crime rates (Morgan & Shanahan, 2010). The results of a sample of 154 undergraduate Egyptian students enrolled at the American University in Cairo showed that the Resonance Hypothesis was observed solely in female students who experienced crime in real life in response to TV newscasts only rather than Talk Shows. These females showed a moderate correlation between TV newscast credibility and the level of fear of crime. The rest of the sample did not show any correlation between TV news credibility and the level of fear of crime.

Department

Journalism & Mass Communication Department

Degree Name

MA in Journalism & Mass Communication

Graduation Date

2-1-2013

Submission Date

January 2014

First Advisor

Hamdy, Naila

Committee Member 1

Abu Ouf, Mervat

Committee Member 2

Ismail, Amani

Extent

113 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Library of Congress Subject Heading 1

Fear of crime -- Egypt.

Library of Congress Subject Heading 2

Television talk shows -- Egypt.

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

Comments

I would like to express my thanks to Dr. ila Hamdy whose patience and support saw me through tough times. For this, I am truly grateful. To my readers, Dr. Mervat Abu Ouf and Dr. Amani Ismail, I owe a debt of gratitude for your responsiveness and detailed comments. I want to thank Professor Sara Elkhalili for her critical and straightforward comments that ebled me to question my assumptions and stay on track. Very big thanks to Dr. Mal El-Hamalawy, an outstanding educator who inspired me to take things a step further and apply to graduate school I will always remember Dr. Sawsan Shalaby’s constant support and responsiveness. My editor, Mo Hamdy, deserves a word of thanks for assisting with the writing process and agreeing to rush the work in order to meet deadlines. Last but not least, my best friend and colleague, Mal Agrama, for her support through all the challenges. Without all of you, I would not have been able to see this project to completion.

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