Which civil society? State-run media and shaping the politics of NGOs in post-uprising Egypt

Abstract

This article explores the role of traditional, state-run media as tools for both, promoting policy, and providing feedback about non-governmental organizations (NGOs)-related policies in Egypt. It also gives insights into how media might contribute to shaping policy on NGOs in countries with similar systems of media governance. The study tests the social construction and policy design theory's “target population proposition” by conducting a thematic analysis of news articles on NGO Law 70 of 2017. It adds a new media studies perspective to Schneider and Ingram’s theory by exploring the framing effects of the media as mediators between governmental policy and target groups of that same policy. The findings confirm Schneider and Ingram’s theory in post-uprising Egypt. It delineates that state-run media variously frame policy rationales of Law 70 of 2017. Dichotomous framing was found to support the significant burdens imposed on, and the sub-rosa benefits granted to, NGOs by the new policy. Media frames also varied according to NGOs’ social construction and power level. This distinction in policy rationales draws the line between developmental NGOs and advocacy organizations whose agenda is perceived as a source of threat to the sovereignty, political independence, and national interests of the state.