Newspaper coverage of the 2011 protests in Egypt

This study analyses the coverage of the 2011 Egyptian protests provided by Al Ahram, Arab News, China Daily, Guardian International, International Herald Tribune and Jerusalem Post, with regard to the type and intensity of the coverage, potential shifts in tunes and interaction with some types of social media. The results show the large role played by national policies and diplomatic relations as well as prevailing news themes in determining the type and intensity of coverage provided. Geographic proximity was also found to be an important factor in influencing coverage. Moreover, a shift in tune, although not significant, was found in the coverage of Al Ahram and Arab News. Finally, the study found that journalists demonstrated a clear preference for citing conventional rather than social media sources in their stories.