Editor: Mai Magdy is an Egyptian English language trainee working in our office. She is a graduate from Cairo University in the field of media communications. In taking advantage of her skills in the course of providing her opportunity to learn English writing skills and research patterns we asked her to provide a media analysis of Egyptian newspaper coverage of the incident in Izbet Bushra, in the governorate of Beni Suef.
On June 21, 2009 a Christian owned home serving as residence of the village priest was attacked during an exchange of violence between Muslims and Christians, with security force involvement as well. The conflict erupted because Christians were using the home as a place for prayers, there being no church in the village. The building in question was originally announced to be a factory, but Christians designed the whole time to turn it into a church. Tensions in the village rose as it became clear the Christians were seeking official registration but yet holding church services anyway, and local Muslims/security forces opposed this transformation seen to be circumventing the law. Details of the conflict vary widely, but both sides seem to have suffered injuries, and the matter of first instigation is not clear.
Within the report that follows Mai makes several observations about reporting patterns, commenting often on bias witnessed in the articles. This introduction is added to provide a greater context for the Izbet Bushra incident, which is not always conveyed in each article. As Mai comments on each submission, the reader is invited to judge her evaluation in this light, which may not be immediately obvious from the text itself.
The Egyptian newspapers which reported on Izbet Bushraa
Governmental newspaper:
Owned and operated by the government, expressing the government point of view.
§ El gomhoria
Independent newspapers:
Newspapers which are issued by private citizens in the form of cooperatives or joint-stock companies.
- El masrei el youm
- El watnei international
- El hayaa
- El shorouk
- El youm el sabeaa
- El dostour
Party newpapers:
Newspapers owned and operated by Egyptian political parties, expressing their point of view.
Summary of articles:
EL Gomhoria:
July 12, 2009 - Mostafa Abdo
This article discusses the reconciliation session which took place in Izbet Bushra, emphasizing how it was welcomed by Muslim and Christian villagers, and proving the strength of national unity.
The governmental newspapers did not pay much attention to the incident in Izbet Bushraa as only one paper-El Gomhoria- published even one article about it. The article appeared three weeks after the incident and was published page 11. El Gomhoria depended on two sources, one Muslim and one Christian, using no pictures. Moreover the article was on the reconciliation session and they reported no news about the details of the incident.
El Masrie el youm:
June 22, 2009 - omar el sekih
The article discusses the circumstances of the incident mentioning what happened, who is responsible, how many people were injured, and how the security performed its duties.
June 29, 2009 - Nabil sharef el din
The author of the article wonders why is there a problem for Christians to build a church which is their right. He emphasized it is not against Islam for Christians to build a church, stating it was because of their poverty that they used this home for prayers. If they were rich they would have the ability to obtain permission for building a church.
El masrei el youm published two articles about the Izbet Bushraa incident, one on
June 22 as a news report and the other one on June 29 as an editorial. Neither article was front page news. Both articles reported the incident without references to sources, also using no pictures. Both of the authors of the articles are Muslims. One was neutral and the editorial showed a bias toward Christians as he referred to the people who attacked the Christians as a ‘mob’. Moreover he described the Christian people as poor who only want to find a modest place to pray. He reported also only the aggression by Muslims against the Christians, stating that Muslims damaged the priest’s car and insulted the Christians.
El watanei international:
July 14, 2009 - Nadir shukri, Imad khalil
The article tells the story of the incident describing Muslims as a ‘mob’, mentioning that they attacked the house, smashing its windows and assaulting Copts with clubs and knives, wounding 25 Copts.
El watanie international reported only once about the incident. It was on the first page as a news report on July 14. It employed no reference to sources or included any pictures. The author of the article displayed a bias toward Christians as he mentioned the number of injured Copts but did not mention the injured Muslims. In addition, he employed emotional language in the description of the Muslims attack, as seen above. Furthermore, he called the use of the building as a place of prayers ‘a rumor’, denying that Coptic villagers used the home of the village priest to hold prayer meetings.
El hayaa:
June 22, 2009 - Author not mentioned
The article mentions the details of the incident, how many people were injured and how many were arrested. It also describes security procedures in handling the incident.
El hayaa printed one article as a news report on page six, using no pictures. El hayaa used statements from anonymous sources which were biased to Christians, as they stated that the clashes had started when Muslims wanted to prevent Christian families from entering a house in ‘Izbat Bushrá village to perform the Sunday prayers, ignoring the larger context. Moreover they mentioned an eyewitness who stated that protesting Muslims smashed the priest’s car, without reporting alternate exchanges of damage.
El shourouk:
June 28, 2009 - Yosef Ramez
The article discusses the American Committee on Relgious Freedom report which deplores the failure of the Egyptian government in protecting religious minorities in Egypt.
July 3, 2009 - Emad El deen hasan
The article discusses that after the reconciliation session took place in Izebt Bushraa another sectarian incident happened in Dakahlya, resulting in the killing of a young Muslim man by a Christian family. So the author criticized the reconciliation sessions for being a useless local tool when national attention is needed for the sectarian issue.
August 1, 2009 - Maher Abd El saboor, Yosef Ramez
The article discusses the phenomena of "church houses" which are the main reasons for many sectarian incidents in Egypt, as the government restricts the Coptic right to build churches.
August 9, 2009 - Yoesf Ramez
The article discusses the peaceful march that organized by expatriate Copts in front of the White House in the United States, protesting President Mubarak's visit. Moreover, these Copts blamed Mubarak for doing nothing towards sectarian strife in Egypt, mentioned the incident at Izebt Bushraa in addition to a few others.
El shourouk website published four articles about the incident. It was not up to date with the incident as they first published about it on June 28, one article on July 3, and two articles in August .Mainly el shourouk’s articles were not about the incident itself but on related topics, except one article which discussed the reconciliation session. El shourok used no pictures. The newspaper depended on three Christian and two Muslim sources. Two of the authors were Muslim and two were unknown.
All the articles were news reports except for one editorial, three of which were neutral except for one article which depended on biased sources, describing the Muslims who attacked the church as a ‘mob’ and ‘extremists’. The source also made fun of the government describing it as irrational, and declared that as long as the law about building churches is unfair to Christians they can build churches without permission.
El youm el sabee:
June 22, 2009 - Gamal gorges el mezahm
The article discusses the demonstration in the cathedral of Beba of Coptic priests and bishops about Izebt Bushraa, asking for the release of the arrested Copts, which included participation from their families.
June 23, 2009 - Ayman Lotfie
The article discusses that security forces surrounded Izebt Bushraa and the proliferation of security in the entire village. The article also gives a short background about the incident.
June 24, 2009 - Ayman Lotfie
The article discusses the reconciliation between Muslims and Christians of Izebt Bushraa and how the people welcomed it.
June 25, 2009 - Ayman Lotfie
The article discusses the statement of the governor of Beni Suef about denying the release of decision to allow a church to be built in Izebt Bushraa.
June 27, 2009 - Mohamed Hamdei
The article discusses that the sectarian disputes which took place in Egypt over the past 37 years are repeated for the same reason: church building issues. Therefore the author emphasizes the importance of passing the unified law for building houses of worship.
June 27, 2009 - Ayman Lotfie
The article presents news about a reconciliation session between Muslims and Christians in Izebt Bushraa.
June 28, 2009 - Mahmoud el mamlok
The article discusses the accusation from the committee for religious freedoms of the US congress to the Egyptian government in failing to protecting the Copts and their property.
July 1, 2009 - Ayman Lotfie
The article discusses the reconciliation session which was held in Izebt Bushraa, describing how the people welcomed it, demonstrating the strength of the national unity.
August 12, 2009 - Ayman lotife
The article discusses the renewal of clashes between Muslims and Christians in Izbet Bushraa, indicating that the strife is still existent.
El youm el sabeea website published nine articles about the incident. It was up to date with the incident as they published on June 22, 23, 24 , 25, 27 , 28 , July 1 and August 12. All of the articles were news reports except one editorial. Two of the authors were Muslim, one Christian, and six were unknown. Two of the authors demonstrated a bias toward Christians in stating that Muslims took the initiative to prevent Copts from praying in the house, adding that Muslims throw stones at Copts when they went to pray on Sunday in a home amid a heavy security presence, and then destroyed two houses near the church.
The second article demonstrated its bias in reporting that the security prevented the Copts from entering the house to pray, and that a Muslim man named Rajeb Mohamed Kamel supported the security by throwing stones at the Christians and damaging the priest's car. In addition the article mentioned that the police officers attacked the Christians, insulted them, damaged the windows of homes and destroyed the agricultural fields of Christians. Such language is provocative, not descriptive.
The rest of the articles were neutral, leaving undefined the number of injured people, only reporting the news with no opinion. El youm el sabee used four Christian pictures such as a photo of a hand tattooed with the cross, Pope Shenouda, and a picture of a church.
They depended on seven Christian sources and four Islamic sources.
El dostour:
June 23, 2009 - Hani sameir and Ashref Mostafa
The article discusses the Copts of ‘Izbat Bushrá conducting a sit-in protest in Beni Sweif against Muslim attacks on their church. In addition the article mentions security guards surrounding the church in order to prevent new clashes.
June 25, 2009 - Hani sameir and Mohamed hasan
The article discusses the continuing curfew in Izebt Bushraa over the fear for renewed clashes. It also describes the release of arrested parties and studies the decision about building a church.
June 26, 2009 - Hani sameir
The article reports that the tension in the village was eased after a reconciliation session was announced. It describes the governor of Beni Suef promising the Copts that a 300-square-meter house would be allocated for use as a church.
El dostour printed three articles about the incident, all of which were news reports, one of which made the front page The newspaper was up to date with the news as they published about it on June 23, 25 and 26.
Two of the writers were Muslims and three were unknown. They depended on five Christian sources but no Muslim sources. All of the articles were biased toward Christians. The article on June 23 reported that Muslims of the village broke the windows of Christian homes in addition to the priest’s car on Sunday. On Monday, it described Muslims destroying crops belonging to Christians, in addition to cutting the electricity, telephone, and internet connections to Christian homes. Finally they mentioned that clashes broke out resulting in 20 Coptic injuries and that a person destroyed the priest’s car. In addition the article on June 25 reported that Father Yūnān of the Coptic Orthodox Church stated that Christians are enclosed in their homes and cannot leave, resulting in a serious lack in their food supplies and their livestock’s feed. Moreover the author mentioned that a large group of Muslims gathered in front of the house and threw stones at the Copts before the Copts retaliated in kind.
The article on June 26 reported that the bishopric will call for the compensation of the people whose businesses and farms had been destroyed by the Muslims. He added that the released people had traces on their bodies that prove they had been tortured in jail. He reported that some of them had accused the security officers of torturing them, rather than the Muslims. El dostour used one Christian picture, representing Christ surrounded by broken glass. Furthermore two of the articles did not define the number of injured while one defined the numbers of injured Christians only.
El arabei:
June 28, 2009 - Mohamed fadel
The article mentions what happened in Izebt Bushraa, stating how many people were injured and arrested. The author also discusses the Christian protests in the cathedral after the incident. Lastly it mentions the reconciliation which was held between the injured people in the hospital, both Muslim and Christian.
July 12, 2009 - Hishām Luṭfī, Muḥammad Faḍl, ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Dāqūfī
The article discusses different sectarian disputes in Egypt, mentioning Izbet
Bushraa by name.
El arabei published two articles about the incident, one as a news report and the other as an analysis. Neither article was published on the front page. The two articles were written by four authors, three of them were Muslims and the fourth unknown. El arabei used no sources in one article and three in the other - one Christian, one Muslim, and one unknown. Moreover the two articles were neutral as they did not define the number of injured people; neither did they accuse either side as being responsible for the incident.
El wafed:
June 25 - Doaa el bady, Shreen yehya
The article discussed the sectarian disputes which took place in Izbet Bushraa which was an example for strong national unity. It also discussed the large number of security in the village who impose curfew on the village as well as the promise which was given to Christians to build a church.
June 26, 2009 - Mohsen abd el karim
The article discusses the return of stability to the village after releasing all the prisoners and promising Christians permission to build a church.
July 7, 2009 - Mohamed hasan
The article discusses the reconciliation session which was held in the village of ‘Izbat Bushrá between Muslims and Christians of the village, also describing the people’s welcomed of it.
El wafed published three articles about the incident, each a news report. They depended on three Christian sources, two Muslim sources, and one unknown source. El wafed used no pictures and they were neutral as they did not define the number of injured people. Moreover they did not accuse either side of being responsible for the incident. One article only was front page news. The articles were written by two Muslim and two unknown writers.
Numbers of articles published:
- 3% of the articles were published by governmental newspapers.
- 19 % of the articles were published by party newspapers.
- 76 % of the articles were published by independent newspapers.
The percentage of every newspaper separately:
- 34 % of the articles were published by El youm el sabe.
- 15% of the articles were published by El Shrouk.
- 11% of the articles were published by El dostour.
- 11% of the articles were published by El wafed.
- 7% of the articles were published by El Masrei El Youm.
- 7% of the articles were published by El Arabei.
- 3% of the articles were published by El Haya.
- 3% of the articles were published by El Gomhoryia.
- 3% of the articles were published by El watanei international.
Ownership of the newspapers:
- 66 % of the newspapers which reported the incident are independent.
- 22 % of the newspapers which reported the incident belong to political parties.
- 11 % of the newspapers which reported the incident are governmental.
In depending upon the collected data it can be deduced that the independent newspapers were the most interested newspapers in reporting the incident of Izebt Bushraa, as they reported 76% of the articles. It can be surmised that the governmental newspapers were less interested in the subject as their policy tends to downplay and underreport the problems of Egypt, especially sectarian disputes. On the contrary, the independent newspapers may have shown the most interest as they are accustomed to reporting all manner of societal issues, especially those which help sell newspapers. It stands to reason that the more frequent attention to Izbet Bushra given by the party newspapers is because they highlight troubled areas which gives reason to justify their opposition to the government.
Use of pictures:
- 30 % of the articles reported the incident with no pictures.
- 25% of the articles reported the incident using governmental pictures.
- 19% of the articles which reported the incident used Christian pictures.
- 26% of the articles which reported the incident used miscellaneous pictures.
- None of the articles used Islamic pictures.
The data shows that 70% of the articles used photos while 30% used no photos. The photos divided into three types: governmental photos, Christian photos, miscellaneous photos. The articles used 19% Christian photo like photos for Pope Shenouda, a priest, a cross, and a church. A percentage of 25% of the photos were governmental photos like a photo for the governor, minister of interior, or president. 26% of photos were miscellaneous, such as photos of the village and security attempts to disperse crowds.
Use of sources:
- 46% of the articles used no sources.
- 54% of the articles used sources.
- 50% of the sources which were used are from Christians.
- 15% of the sources which were used are from Muslims.
- 19% of the sources which were used are from government sources.
- 16% of the sources which were used are unknown in terms of religion.
- 30% of the articles used multiple sources.
- 23% of the articles used sources from only one side, which was always from Christian sources.
Sources referenced multiple times included: Fr. Ishac Kastor, the priest in Izbet Bushra, Fr. Yonan Bshree, priest of el Fashen church, Bishop Stephanos of Beba and el Fashen, the governor of Beni Sewif, Ezat Abd Allah, and Sheikh Abd Allah Shalabey, undersecretary of the Ministry of Endowments.
Publishing page:
- 24% of the articles in the printed newspapers were published on the first page.
- 76% of the articles from the printed newspapers were published in internal pages.
Religion of the writers:
§ 43% of the authors of the articles are Muslim.
§ 9% of the authors of the articles are Christian.
§ 46% of the authors of the articles are cannot be determined in religion according to their name.
Type of article:
§ 80% of the articles were published as a news report.
§ 15% of the articles were published as an editorial.
§ 3% of the articles were published as an analysis.
Defining the number of injured people:
- 69% of the articles did not mention any information about the number of injured people.
- 11% of the articles defined the number of injured people in terms of their religion.
- 3% of the articles defined the number of injured people Christians only.
- 17% of the articles defined the number of injured people irrespective of religion.
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