Abstract

On the 3rd of November 2016, the Central Bank of Egypt has announced the free flotation of the Egyptian pound. The Central Bank (CBE) had devalued the currency to 13 EGP per USD. The event of the devaluation of the Egyptian pound against US dollars started an extensive debate across media outlets. A content analysis of 605 articles in three news websites (national, private, and partisan) has been done since the announcement date of its implementation in November 2016 till July 2017 along with analyzing the press releases of the Central Bank (CBE), to describe how the Central Bank (CBE) of Egypt has been able to send out its messages through news websites. The topic was explored through the agenda-setting and media framing theories, in order to track frames of the free flotation of the Egyptian pound and to identify trends in covering monetary policy in local news websites, to compare coverage of the new monetary decision across these news websites and to examine variations across them. The research sample covered different types of news websites (national, private, partisan) to ensure balance in the sample selection. The research found out that "El Watan" - the private news website provided the highest positive and optimistic views of the flotation followed by Al Ahram the national website and Al Wafd the partisan news websites. "El Watan" together with "Al Ahram" relied on official sources in developing their news stories, yet Al Wafd relied on non-official sources. The frames mentioned in the press releases of the Central Bank (CBE) of Egypt were reflected in the media coverage of the three news websites however they were not constant in terms of duration or longevity. The frames applied in the press releases of the Central Bank (CBE) of Egypt were found to be six frames, "The free flotation of the Egyptian pound is a must", "Stimulating the Egyptian economy is a shared responsibility", "The free flotation of the Egyptian pound has positive outcomes", "There are side effects for the free flotation of the Egyptian pound", "Assuring the sustainability of the social aid programs for the needy people" and the frame that lasts through all press releases was "Assuring long term economic stability for investors and people".

Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Degree Name

MA in Public Policy

Graduation Date

2-1-2018

Submission Date

January 2018

First Advisor

Allam, Rasha; Amin, Hussein

Committee Member 1

Amin, Hussein

Committee Member 2

Hegazy, Ibrahim

Extent

110 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

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

Yousef Jameel AUC Fellowship

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