Announcements
JRMC Announcements and Faculty Contribution
Rasha Allam Serves as a Judge at the Oxford Media Law Program
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Allam
April 15, 2021
Professor Rasha Allam was invited to serve as judge in the International Annual Monroe E. Price Media Law Moot Court Competition on April 13. The Price Media Law Moot Court Competition is a joint program between the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford and the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights.
The Program brings International students from eight regions of the world and aims to foster and cultivate interest in freedom of expression issues and the role of the media and information technologies in societies around the world. It was established by the Program in Comparative Media Law & Policy at the University of Oxford in 2008.
JRMC faculty team win third place in FYC competition
Faculty Member Featured: Nadine El Sayed, Kim Fox
April 15, 2021
Professor of Practice Kim Fox and Associate Professor of Practice Nadine El Sayed won third place in the Futurize Your Course pitch competition, organized as part of the Research and Creativity Convention on March 31.
The competition included 10 teams of faculty members from different departments across AUC presenting their visions of futurizing a course of their choice to fit the needs of 2040.
Fox and El Sayed presented a plan to develop their Multimedia Writing and Production (JRMC 2202) course, introducing an artificial intelligence (AI) component to the course to help equip their students for the future of the industry. Their plan included training students on using AI to understand audiences and trends, to collect and understand data as well as in reporting and writing.
Yasmine Soheim and Alyssa Young, instructors at the Department of Rhetoric and Composition, won first place with their new “Impact Through Research” course. Naglaa Samir Ismail, associate professor of practice at the Department of Arts, Hoda Mostafa, professor of practice and director of the Center for Learning and Teaching, and Magda Mostafa, associate professor of practice at the Department of Architecture, won second place with their new interdisciplinary course titled “Progressive Design: The future by Design."
General Manager of FP7/McCann speaks to JRMC 2202 students
Faculty Member Featured: Nadine El Sayed
April 15, 2021
Associate Professor of Practice Nadine El Sayed hosted Sondos Effat, the general manager of FP7/McCann Cairo advertising agency, who spoke to students in the Multimedia Writing and Production (JRMC 2202) course on Wednesday, April 7.
JRMC 2202 students live-tweeted the talk, pushing the hashtag #JRMC2202series and #SondosEffat to trend as number one and three on the local Twitter respectively.
Effat, who is a graduate of the IMC program, talked to students about formulating advertising messages based on market insight, with a focus on public service announcements (PSA), discussing a number of case studies from campaigns students are familiar with, including campaigns by the UN, Coca-Cola and others. She has 15 years of experience in the industry, and has a master of arts in marketing from the University of Westminster in London. Effat has been with FP7/McCann for 12 years and was a part of. Several teams that won prestigious industry international awards, including D&D, LIA, The Andys, AdFest and The One Show. FP7McCann Cairo is part of the global McCann Worldgroup, the world’s largest advertising network.
This session comes as a part of a series El Sayed and Professor of Practice Kim Fox launched collaboratively for their JRMC 2202 students, hosting industry experts of different specializations. Professor Fox had previously hosted JRMC alumni Nadine Awadalla, a Reuters correspondent, and Nadine El Guiddawi, an expert in public relations who gave students a practical insight into the field.
Rawan Lasheen Speaks to JRMC 3339 class
Faculty Member Featured: Sally Kandil
April 15, 2021
Adjunct Faculty Sally Kandil hosted CMA alumna Rawan Lasheen, a TV presenter on Al-Ghad TV and junior member of the Egyptian Parliament on April 8. She talked about her 6-year experience as an anchor, the dos and don'ts of presenting, and reviewed some of the students' work and gave them her feedback.
Social Media and the Age of Polarization
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Abdulla, Naila Hamdy
April 8, 2021
Prof. Rasha Abdulla, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication, participated as a panelist in the GAPP webinar "Social Media and the Age of Polarization". The webinar panel also featured Prof. Hedayat Heikal of Harvard Law School and Prof. Gabriele Cosentino and author of "Social Media and the Post-Truth World Order." It was hosted by Dean Nabil Fahmy and moderated by Prof. Naila Hamdy. Prof. Abdulla tackled the effects of polarization on social media as perpetrated by fake news and hate speech, and emphasized the importance of media literacy and teaching diversity and tolerance. She discussed the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance as advocated by entities such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Internet Governance Forum, of which she was a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Committee, appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
IMC students design Ramadan Turkish coffee campaigns for Cilantro
Faculty Member Featured: Tara Al-Kadi
April 8, 2021
On April 5, Cilantro’s marketing team had a joint session with Prof. Tara Al Kadi’s JRMC 3355 Creative Strategy and Advertising Copywriting students.
Students were assigned a formal brief by Cilantro detailing requirements for a Ramadan advertising campaign. All teams were offered thorough feedback on their work and what elements were key in today’s competitive coffee market.
Winners were selected based on creativity, applicability and adherence to the original brief.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy joins AUC SpeakUp with her most recent Q1 publication on Digital Persuasion in the #MeToo Era
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
April 8, 2021
Professor Fahmy’s latest work in the International Journal of Communication (IJOC) examines the use of persuasion appeals in the most viral MeToo memes on Twitter. The work is co-authored with Fahmy’s former graduate student Omneya Ibrahim, who worked on the project during her first year of her MA program at AUC.
In her work, Fahmy examined MeToo memes during the week in which sexual misconduct allegations were made against Judge Brett Kavanaugh, then nominee for the US Supreme Court. Findings revealed anti-MeToo memes significantly focused more on the emotional appeal and less on the logos and ethos appeals than pro-MeToo memes. Overall, the work contributes to the developing area of digital feminism research and adds to the limited research that explores the different persuasion appeals in the contemporary digital media environment.
IJOC is a Q1 journal published by USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. An earlier version of this work won the Top Scholar to Scholar Award for the best visual communication division paper at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual convention in Toronto, Canada in August 2019.
The Media Economy in Practice: Guest Speaker A.Shebl
Faculty Member Featured: Mireille Barsoum
April 1, 2021
Adjunct faculty Mireille Barsoum invited guest speaker Ahmed Shebl, Head Creative Director at FP7 McCann Cairo, on March 28 to speak to her online media economics class to share his journey in advertising with the students. Shebl has more than 25 years of experience in the field and has successfully handled more than 100 campaigns during his career in six advertising agencies in Egypt.
The live session included a glance at his experience in media and advertising in Egypt, and a discussion of the industry’s top firms and dynamics. Shebl shared the main challenges the industry has been facing in the era of COVID-19 and highlighted some unexpected market opportunities during the pandemic that left the class in awe. The students got a chance to bridge the gap between theory and practice and received a practical glimpse of how the different factors discussed in class actually affect work in real life.
Students shared very positive feedback about the session and expressed interest in applying to summer internships at FP7 McCann, to which Shebl shared appropriate contacts.
Egypt Retail Summit 2021
Faculty Member Featured: Tara El-Kadi
April 1, 2021
Adjunct faculty professor Tara El-Kadi moderated the panel titled Innovative Marketing: Redefining Customer Loyalty, as part of the Egypt Retail Summit 2021. The event was held at the Nile Ritz Carlton Hotel on March 27.
Panel members included Dahlia Ezzat, Head of Media Planning at Media Hub - Saadi Gohar; Mostafa Medhat, Enterprise Manager at Tradeline- Apple Premium Reseller; Mohamed Dawood, CEO of MARKIT; Abdurrahman Ata , Fashion Retail Expert; and Tarek ElKoussy, Sales Director for Operations at Majorel Egypt.
Shahira S. Fahmy to join the Advisory Board of Journal of Global Communication and Online Media
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
April 1, 2021
The Immediate Past Editor of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ), Professor Louisa Ha and Founding Editor of a new online journal sponsored by the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) invited Professor Shahira S. Fahmy on March 25 to join the advisory board of her new journal.
The journal is planned to officially launch in early 2022. Its policy is one board member from one university. All board members will be invited to Shanghai or other cities in China to attend its annual editorial board meeting and conferences organized by SISU, such as its NCA Shanghai Dialogue Forum in 2022.
The journal’s mission is to bring the best research on global communication and global online media platforms including social media and mobile applications to the world with its bilingual Chinese and English format and multi-language version abstracts based on official UN languages (Arabic, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, English).
Half of the articles will be translated from best-published pieces in non-English language communication journals from around the world with one of them being a review on the state of research in a region or a country. The other half of the articles will be open submissions of English language original research on digital platforms such as blogs, online news sites, review sites such as TripAdvisor, Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter WeChat, TikTok, Whatspps, Line, etc., that have global implications.
The journal welcomes quantitative, qualitative and critical approaches to the study of global communication and digital platforms and strives to maximize the access and international impact of the scholarship published. Empirical studies are preferred over conceptual articles. Descriptive studies with national representative samples for benchmarking will also be considered.
Kim Fox Receives Multiple Research Accolades
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
April 1, 2021
Over the past few weeks, professor of practice Kim Fox has received multiple accolades related to her research commitments. The first two will be highlighted in separate panel discussions at the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) virtual conference in mid-April 2021.
Broadcast Education Association Radio & Audio Media (RAM) Top Paper (tied)
"From COVID to Black Lives Matter: Daily news podcasts and the reinvention of audio reporting"
Journal of Radio and Audio Media - 2020 Outstanding Research Article (tied) "A Curriculum for Blackness: Podcasts as Discursive Cultural Guides, 2010-2020" Recently named to the Journal of Radio and Audio Media editorial board.
JRMC/ALI Launch Arabic Language Webinar Series
JRMC Department
April 1, 2021
The Journalism and Mass Communication Department in collaboration with the Department of Arabic Language Instruction (ALI) hosted the first webinar in a series focusing on the importance of Arabic for AUC students after graduation on March 25.
Titled عربي ما بعد التخرج: يا ترى ليه؟ (Arabic After Graduation, Why?), the webinar's panelists included actor and alumna Yosra El-Lozy, JRMC's Professor Mervat Abou Oaf and adjunct faculty Mona Salman, and ALI Senior Instructor Montasser Al Qaffash. The webinar was moderated by Professor Rasha Allam.
The Zoom webinar was recorded and is available here.
Students Attend Feature Writing Workshop
Faculty Member Featured: Nadine El Sayed
March 25, 2021
Twenty-two students from across AUC attended the two-hour feature writing workshop hosted by the Journalism and Mass Communication Department on March 1.
The workshop, taught by Associate Professor Brian J. Bowe and Associate Professor of Practice Nadine El Sayed, hosted 22 students from the JRMC department, as well as various majors, including economics, film, political science, engineering, management and literature.
The students were given the basics of generating feature ideas, differentiating between features and hard news, and writing different features.
The workshop is part of a larger JRMC initiative to boost students' communication skills and pique their interest in the world of media and styles of writing, using multimedia and social media channels and honing journalistic skills.
The department will host another session focused on interviewing and research skills for feature writers that will also be open to all students across AUC. The session will be moderated by Bowe and El Sayed, and presented by Maurice Chammah, staff writer at The Marshal Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Chammah’s first book, Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty, won the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Book Award.
Elections Put MCA Back on Track
March 25, 2021
Farid Tadors, an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) major, has won the presidential election for the Mass Communication Association (MCA) with a total of 83 votes.
In total, 113 JRMC voted in the poll held on March 5, marking the highest student turnout in years and the second highest association elections turnout across the university.
Three teams had initially qualified for the elections, but one team withdrew, leaving Tadros and the one other team, Rawan Ibrahim and her running mate Sondos Karara, in the race.
Tadros is a member of Community Integration in the Student Union. He is the marketing brand coordinator at Mintra, and interned as a data analyst at Dale Carnegie. He was also a coordinator at BrushIt Coordinator. He is also a member of the AUC swimming team and has won the bronze medal at the Cairo Championship and represented the Gezira Sporting Club at the Egyptian National championship.
The MCA is a student-led organization that serves all students of the JRMC department, providing academic and logistical support and acting as a bridge between JRMC students and the department as well as the professional field. The association offers various services to students and represents students of all three JRMC majors, organizing workshops on topics of interest to the students and providing guidance to navigate the different majors.
Social Media and Disinformation
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Abdulla
March 25, 2021
Professor Rasha Abdulla, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication, participated as a speaker on a panel organized by the Atlantic Council on Social Media and Disinformation 10 years after the Arab Spring. Entitled, "The Arab Spring: Precursor to the disinformation age?", the panel was hosted by the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and the Digital Forensic Research Lab. Prof. Abdulla was joined by veteran journalists Andy Carvin and Borzou Daragahi. Carvin is currently Resident Senior Fellow and Managing Editor of the DFRLab. Daragahi is International Correspondent for the Independent and Nonresident Fellow at the Middle East Program. The panel was moderated by Tuqa Nusairat, Deputy Director of the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Program.
Podcasting Workshop
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
March 25, 2021
On March 16, Professor of Practice Kim Fox facilitated a podcasting workshop for Egyptian journalists on the AUC New Cairo campus. The 4-hour workshop was organized by AUC's Media Relations team in the Office of Marketing Communication and Public Affairs. 925 was there and wrote about the workshop.
New Chapter on Lebanese Media
Faculty Member Featured: Sara El-Richani
March 25, 2021
Professor Sarah El-Richani’s chapter Lebanon: A Faltering Mesh of Political and Commercial Interests has just been published as part of a new open access book entitled "Arab Media Systems" (edited by Carola Richter and Claudia Kozman). El-Richani’s Chapter assesses the state of the boisterous Lebanese media from its inception to the present day, taking stock of the legal and political framework and the challenges encountered.
The chapter also considers the prospects for media in Lebanon as the country grapples with an unprecedented economic and political crisis. It argues that the Lebanese media will have to contend with both the invisible hand resulting in the closure of non-profitable media outlets as well as the visible and forceful hand clamping down on free expression.
On Images and our Exhausted Bodies
Faculty Member Featured: Nadia Mounier
March 25, 2021
Adjunct Faculty Nadia Mounier held a talk at Cairo Photo Week called “On images and our exhausted bodies”. It was a performative talk that lasted for one hour at the factory, the main venue for Cairo Photoweek located in downtown cairo. The talk was related to Mounier’s long-term project “Was that really you?” and looks into different forms of censorship in relation to our self-image production.
Mounier also took part at an exhibition called The Everyday Projects, featuring the work of 25 photographers who contribute to Everyday Egypt, Everyday Africa, and Everyday Middle East. It was curated by Peter DiCampo, Cofounder of Everyday Africa and The Everyday Projects.
Word on the Street
Faculty Member Featured: Ronnie Close
March 18, 2021
Professor Ronnie Close hosted Zeina Dowidar from podcasters Kerning Cultures to speak to his JRMC 3380 Digital Storytelling class on March 15 about her audio feature on streets that have been renamed, Word on the Street. This program was reviewed by the students and it examines the history of cities like Tehran and Khartoum. Kerning Cultures was founded in 2015 and is the first venture-funded podcast company in the Middle East. It features a lineup of award-winning immersive Arabic and English podcasts for curious listeners.
Word on the Street Podcast: https://kerningcultures.com/word-on-the-street
Beyond the Pandemic
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
March 18, 2021
Professor Hesham Dinana was invited to participate as a moderator in the Marketers League Conference 2021, March 13-14, under the theme Beyond the Pandemic: New Era.
Professor Dinana moderated a session about the Role of Digital Infrastructure and Service Platforms Post the Pandemic.
Creative Conceptualization
Faculty Member Featured: Rania Fouda
March 18, 2021
Adjunct Professor Rania Fouda's JRMC 3315 Introduction to Advertising class hosted Ms. Summer El Bosraty - Executive Creative Director at Momentum Egypt - on March 14.
El Bosraty spoke to the students about how to come up with a creative concept for an advertisement based on a brief from the client, the creative execution and the creative process, using real life examples from her agency.
PodFest Cairo 2021 Success
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
March 11, 2021
More than 70 people attended Podfest Cairo, Egypt's and Africa’s first podcasting conference on Sunday, March 7, 2021 on Zoom. The event was hosted by AUC’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JRMC) and provided simultaneous translation.
The two-and-a-half-hour event, also known as PFC 2021, brought together Egypt’s podcast listeners and creators. The line-up featured keynote speaker Linah Mohmmad from the Washington Post’s Post Reports Podcast, who spoke about growing up in Jordan before moving to Texas and her introduction to audio via National Public Radio (NPR) in the U.S. Mohammed ended her segment by discussing her recent audio essay, “Bachelorette in Arlington” that was published on This American Life. Other sessions included “The Road to a Successful Podcast” with Noran Morsi, host and producer of the recently launched Egyptian Streets Podcast along with Heba Shunbo, the host of Mommy’s Happy Hour Podcast, which launched last year. They spoke of the successes and challenges they’ve experienced with their new podcasts.
Professor of Practice Kim Fox, the founder and conference organizer said that the spotlight segment was new this year and highlighted three local podcasts and podcasters. The conference also hosted a speed networking session - three rounds were held in the breakout rooms to give the participants a chance to meet a few other podcasters and podcast listeners. Fox said that Podfest Cairo is hoping to host other online events in Arabic and English in the coming months and is more hopeful to host PFC 2022 in person next year.
Is Cyberspace Safe?
Faculty Member Featured: Khaled Ezzelarab
March 11, 2021
Associate Professor of Practice Khaled Ezzelarab moderated the latest Speak Up Dialog Series: How to Stay Safe in Cyberspace? Is "Private" Really "Private".
The session explored the increasing online harassment trend facing internet users and featured speakers Dina El Serafy, international cooperation specialist at the National Council for Women, Hani Mohamed Kamel, content operation director for North Africa at TikTok, Sylvia Musalagani, safety policy manager for Africa at Facebook, and Ahmed Khatter, computer Engineering graduating senior and president of AUC's Computer Science and Engineering Association.
Manuscript on Neuroscience and Data
Faculty Member Featured: Nicolas Hamelin
March 11, 2021
The Australasian Marketing Journal has accepted to publish Professor Nicolas Hamelin's manuscript entitled "Forecasting Advertisement Effectiveness: Neuroscience and Data Envelopment Analysis".
Adham Center for TV and Digital Journalism and JRMC Students Win Awards
JRMC Department
March 4, 2021
Our JRMC undergrads and Adham Center graduates won awards in the prestigious Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts competition in several categories.
AUDIO WINNERS:
1st Place: Nesrien Abdelkader, Student International Audio category for “Choose to Refuse: Escaping the Cycle of Addiction”
Award of Excellence: Reem Elmaghraby, Student Educational Audio category for "Educational Journey: From Qena to Cairo"
Award of Excellence: Haidy Badreldin, Student Podcast category for "#AUCdiaries: A Stormy Weekend Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic"
VIDEO WINNERS:
1st Place: Mariam Elbanna, Mathilde Teddy Christensen & Radoslav Penkov, Danish School of Media and Journalism & The American University in Cairo, Student International Documentary Short-Form for “Welcome to Pork Country” | A Documentary About Danish Pig Farmers
1st Place: Nouran Abdel Ghafar, Student International Television News category for "The Tale Behind Egyptian Brick"
Award of Excellence: Assem Khaled, Student Documentary Micro-Documentary category for "Desert Rain"
Award of Excellence: Sarah Sadek, Student Documentary Short-Form Documentary category for "Child of Happiness"
Kim Fox Wins BEA Award
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
March 4, 2021
Professor Kim Fox, Faculty International Competition, Audio – Short-Form Production - Best of Competition: “One Day in January 2011”
Future of Technology Applications in Egypt
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
March 4, 2021
Professor Hesham Dinana was recently featured on the MBC network's Al Hadath news channel to discuss the future of digital technology applications and data analytics in Egypt.
Exceptional Reporting Award
JRMC Department
March 4, 2021
Multimedia Journalism Alumna Deena Sabry has won the prestigious University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism's 2020 Robert Whittington Award for Exceptional Reporting for her co-authored piece Portraits of Essential California Workers.
Photographic Tribute
JRMC Department
March 4, 2021
The Academy of Liberal Arts Department of Rhetoric and Composition in collaboration with The Photographic Gallery in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication presents Stories of Displacement - A Tribute to Jacob Lawrence. This Exhibition will feature (reproductions of) the Migration Series created by the late and revered Lawrence, who chronicled the flight of millions of African-Americans fleeing the “Jim Crow South” from 1910-1960.
Over 80 years ago, Lawrence, then a young artist, having partaken in a migration journey of his own, created an epic body of work consisting of 60 small tempera paintings narrating the Great Migration of African-Americans in the United States of America. More than 70 years later, Lawrence’s paintings are displayed along with the Syrian Migration Series by Lebanese American artist Helen Zughaib. Zughaib connects with Lawrence across time and space and draws her inspiration from his art to depict a parallel story about people in search of safety and freedom as they escape the ravages of war.
In Stories of Displacement, Lawrence and Zughaib present visual narratives from two distinct geographic regions and time periods. The exhibition will also feature photographs, documentaries and panel discussions. When combined together they form a narrative about current events that establish connections and construct meaningful interpretations about our relentless quest for human dignity today.
Exhibition Events:
Exhibition Talk: Q&A with photojournalist Max Hirzel
Wednesday 10 March 2021 • 5:00 pm (Cairo Time) • (online)
Virtual Panel Discussion: Framing a Familiar Past and Present – Quest for Safety and Freedom
Nora Niedzielski-Eichner, Prof. Belachew Gerbrewold, Helen Zughaib
Thursday 11 March 2021 • 5 pm (Cairo time) • (online)
Gallery visits are by appointment only, email: dina.eldeeb@aucegypt.edu
Events Registration links are in this PDF file.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy to Continue her Service as an Editorial Board Member for Media, War and Conflict SAGE Journal
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
February 18, 2021
Professor Shahira Fahmy has served on the board since the journal’s inception in 2008 and was selected to edit a special issue of the journal in 2010 on Images of Conflict. Media, War and Conflict is a major international, peer-reviewed journal that maps the shifting arena of war, conflict and terrorism in an intensively and extensively mediated age.
Currently, Fahmy serves on the Publications Committee of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in the United States. The committee is responsible for the oversight of the three association-wide journals: Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator and Journalism and Communication Monographs. Fahmy is further the associate editor of the flagship Journal of Communication (JOC) and presently sits on editorial boards of multiple Q1 journals in the communication discipline, including Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Mass Communication & Society, as well as other top communication journals including and Visual Communication Quarterly.
Fahmy has served as evaluator of manuscripts for more than 40 different refereed Journals and Research/Policy Institutes, including the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University, Communication Yearbook, Oxford Bibliographies / Communication, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media (JOBEM), New Media and Society, International Communication Gazette, International Journal for Public Opinion Research (IJPOR), Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Asian Journal of Communication and The International Journal of Press/Politics. Fahmy also evaluated manuscripts for book proposals and awards such as the AEJMC Tankard Book Award, Sage, Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group in the US and the UK, Palgrave Macmillan, and Oxford University Press, among others.
Renamed Streets
Faculty Member Featured: Ronnie Close
February 18, 2021
Professor Ronnie Close was interviewed by Kerning Cultures for a podcast on two infamously renamed streets, one in Tehran and the other in Khartoum. Part of his PhD research looked at the relationship between Irish Republicans and the Islamic Republic of Iran. In Tehran there is a street named after Bobby Sands the 1981 Hunger Striker and this narrative is explored in the podcast.
Listen to the episode Word on the Street here.
Science and Research Consciousness
Faculty Member Featured: Nicolas Hamelin
February 18, 2021
Professor Nicolas Hamelin was selected to be a member of the Science and Consciousness Research group along with academics from eminent universities. His research focuses on the role of PAA (predictive anticipatory activity) in decision making.
https://socrg.org/collaboration.html
What we Talk about when we talk about Photography
JRMC Department
February 18, 2021
The Photographic Gallery is happy to announce that the first two webinars of the series What We Talk About When We Talk About Photography are now available on the gallery's youtube channel.
Subscribe to the gallery’s YouTube channel.
Capturing Pandemics
By Aladin Abdel Naby and Ahmed Hayman
Photojournalists Aladin Abdel Naby and Ahmed Hayman reflect on the risks involved in the practice of photojournalism during a deadly outbreak, and how the ethics of capturing death by camera have evolved along the years. The video includes presentations of the coverage of the Swine flu pandemic in Egypt in 2009, and coverage of the Ayaat railway accident which took place in 2002.
Disclaimer: Video includes disturbing images.
Will the Black Lives Matter end up on a supermarket shelf?
By Nicolas Hamelin
Professor Nicolas Hamelin discusses the cultural appropriation of the Black Lives Matter movement by brands, in light of the recent BLM protests, questioning how genuine and impactful will the BLM movement remain once it is posted on tomato ketchup bottles, ice cream boxes and dental plaque removers.
Serving on Editorial Boards of Communication Journals
Faculty Member Featured: Hussein Amin
February 11, 2021
Professor Hussein Amin, Professor and Director of the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism, was invited to serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Mass Communication Research published by Al-Azhar University. Prof. Amin also accepted the invitation to continue his service on the editorial board of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ), a Q1 journal published by SAGE. Prof. Amin currently serves on editorial and advisory boards of academic media and communication journals including: Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, a Q2 journal published by SAGE; Journalism Practice, a Q1 journal published by Routledge; The Journal of African Media Studies, a journal published by Intellect; The Journal of Media, War & Conflict, a Q2 journal published by SAGE; The Journal of Middle East Media; and the Cairo Review. He served on the boards of the Journal of International Communication, a Q2 journal published by Taylor and Francis Ltd.; The Journal of Global Media and Communication, a Q2 journal published by SAGE; and he was the editor of the Global Media Journal-Arabic Edition, in addition to serving on its board. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Arab Media & Society, a Q2 journal published by the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism.
An Erasmus+ EU Grant
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
February 11, 2021
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy from GAPP secured an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) Programme between AUC and the University of Murcia (UM) in Spain for two consecutive years. The recently awarded Erasmus+ EU Programme allows cooperation and exchange of several faculty and graduate students between the two universities for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years.
The agreement includes three international mobility grants for JRMC faculty (5 days each) and two international mobility grants for JRMC graduate students (five months each) to study at the Faculty of Communication at UM in Spain. Similar international mobility grants for UM faculty and students, to study at AUC will be available. The Erasmus + mobility grant will fund travel cost and daily allowances for all participants.
During the mobility exchange, the professors will choose between classroom lecturing, research mentorship and/or collaborating in joint international research with local faculty. For graduate students, they will have the opportunity to attend regular classes, and/or the possibility of conducting research projects for their final theses.
As the main partner, the UM has already launched the Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility (ICM) Programme project online and uploaded all the relevant information and application material
https://erasmusmi.um.es/erasmusmi/erasmusmi.public.whoapply.do
The upcoming application deadline for this Erasmus+ 2021-2022 Programme is March 1, 2021.
India Global Dialogue
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
February 11, 2021
Professor Hesham Dinana participated as a speaker in the India Global Dialogue – Session 2- on January 28, 2021. The second session was titled India-GCC Relations: Examining Future Possibilities.
The sessions included many prominent speakers and my talk focused on the role that India can play in the future development of the Digital Economy in the GCC region.
The Phileas Club podcast
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
February 11, 2021
Professor Kim Fox was a recent guest on The Phileas Club Podcast. The discussion centred on podcasting and the Internet in Egypt, Russia and Alexey Navalny, COVID in Germany and Egypt, news from the US... and more! The Phileas Club Podcast is a weekly conversation podcast about international news with guests from all around the world.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy Gets two Research Papers Accepted for ICA 2021
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
February 4, 2021
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy has had two papers accepted for presentation at the International Communication Association (ICA) annual convention scheduled to take place in Denver, Colorado in May 2021. ICA is the premier international academic association for scholars engaged in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of communication.
One of the papers is co-authored with Fahmy’s former graduate student Basma Taha. It analyzes the representation of women in online news in three countries that rank differently along the gender equality continuum: the United Sweden, and Egypt. Results of the study suggest that women continue to be underrepresented in the news of the three countries examined and that stereotypical patterns continue to be dominant online, although significant differences in gender portrayal among countries were noted.
The second paper co-authored with a researcher from Pakistan, is one of the first empirical attempts to analyze visuals of conflict on social media through the perspective of war and peace frames. Based on a content analysis of the 674 visuals of the Mastung terrorist attack on Twitter, the findings suggest the domination of war visuals. Most of the tweeted photographs were related to the afflicted victims and the visiting elites. Results also showed significant variations in the war and peace narrative over time. Overall, findings of the study resonate with previous scholarship that social media promote escalation of conflicts and that the exponents of peace journalists were not correct in predicting that digital platforms would lead to a strong peace framing approach.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy to Continue Service as a Fulbright Specialist Program Peer Reviewer in 2021
February 4, 2021
Prof. Fahmy will be part of the Fulbright Specialist Peer Review Team in 2021. Fahmy has served on the review team for several years. Fahmy was awarded two Fulbright grants to work with the NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence in the Baltics in 2015 and UNECA in Africa in 2014.
The Fulbright Specialist Program is a program of the U.S. Department of State. It is a unique opportunity for U.S. academics and established professionals to engage in project-based exchanges at host institutions across the globe.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy to Continue Service as a Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Editorial Board Member
February 4, 2021
Prof. Fahmy was invited last week by the incoming editor Prof. Daniela Dimitrova from Iowa State University to continue her service as an editorial board member for Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ), flagship of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Fahmy has served on the board of this Q1 peer-reviewed journal for several years. Established in 1924, it is the oldest refereed scholarly journal in mass communication and provides leadership in scholarship for the field.
Currently, Fahmy holds an AEJMC association-wide leadership position and at this time is a member of the AEJMC Publications Committee.
Wherefore art thou, democracy?
Faculty Member Featured: Firas Al-Atraqchi
February 4, 2021
Professor of Practice Firas Al-Atraqchi published a piece in Arab Media and Society analyzing regional reaction to the January riots by pro-Trump forces at the US Capitol. While US media coverage comparing the chaos at the Capitol to scenes in Iraq or Afghanistan is inaccurate and offensive, Al-Atraqchi argues that the regional ridicule of US democracy is also unfortunate. "It remains that a valuable moment may have been squandered to genuinely examine the divisiveness ripping through American society ... and learn from it."
The Annual Crain's NewsPro Top Educators
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
February 4, 2021
In January, Professor Kim Fox was selected as one of 10 educators who are featured in the annual Crain's NewsPro Top Educators article.
Lebanon's Deepening Socio-Economic Crisis
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
February 4, 2021
Professor Sarah El-Richani was cited in Ahram Online on the anti-lockdown protests in Lebanon and the deepening socio-economic crisis. While for El-Richani, things are unlikely to improve without international pressure “the unrest may indeed push the self-serving, negligent and seemingly oblivious political class to at least resume the talks on the formation of a new government,” she said.
The full article written by Bassem Aly and published on February 2 can be found here.
Variations of Democracy Project
February 4, 2021
Prof. El-Richani has once again served as a country expert for the Variations of Democracy project run by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The project assesses the concept of democracy around the world in a nuanced and multidimensional manner.
Highest Honors for Dissertation
Faculty Member Featured: Sherin Moody
February 4, 2021
On January 31, Professor Sherin Moody’s PhD defense was held at the Department of Communication and Media Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Ain Shams University. After the defense, Sherin was awarded with highest honors for her thesis titled “Women’s Portrayal in Egyptian TV Channels Advertisements and its Impact on Female University Students Self-Perception.”
Students Interviewed by Local Media
February 4, 2021
Students of Sherin Moody's JRMC 4425 IMC Capstone course (fall 2020) were recently interviewed by local media for their final project about renovating the Aquarium Grotto garden in Zamalek.
Led by group leader Fagr Osama, they were interviewed by Al Watan news and the Al Hadath Al Youm TV channel.
Debate Over Future of Big Tech in the US after January 6
Faculty Member Featured: Khaled Ezzelarab
February 4, 2021
This week, Associate Professor of Practice Khaled Ezzelarab published the third of four media articles looking into the debate that is taking place in the United States around the future of Big Tech, following the storming of the Capitol on January 6. The first article looked back at how the current legal framework governing the responsibility of internet companies for third party content, came into being in the 1990s with the aim of protecting the nascent internet industry from expensive legal challenges. The second article looked at how this framework allowed for the rise of social media platforms, and how it became subsequently evident that some kind of content moderation was necessary. Responsibility for this moderation was left to the internet companies themselves, but shortcomings were abundant. The third article looks at the resulting rise in calls to repeal and replace the existing legal framework.
The articles are being published on Egyptian news website Masrawy, and can be viewed here.
Hesham Dinana to Join Grand Egyptian Museum Board
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
December 31, 2020
The Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism of Egypt announced on December 24 that Prime Minister Mostafa Madoubly had appointed Assistant Professor prof. Hesham Dinana to the new Board of Directors of the Grand Egyptian Museum. Prof. Dinana joins a number of prominent figures from Egypt including The Minister of Tourism and Antiquities – Chairman of the Board - Prof. Khaled El-Anany, Ambassador Hesham El Zemety – Ex. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Tarek Fayed - CEO of Banque du Caire (Bank of Cairo), and other government and industry officials.
The appointment is for two years renewable and board members are expected to meet on a monthly basis.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy to continue serving as an editorial board member for Visual Communication Quarterly Taylor and Francis journal
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
December 31, 2020
Prof. Shahira S. Fahmy attended the Visual Communication quarterly meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Visual Communication Division, last week via zoom. Fahmy has served on the editorial board of the journal for more than a decade and continues to serve in the Visual Communication Division of AEJMC in leadership roles.
Visual Communication Quarterly is an international, peer-reviewed journal of theory, research, practical criticism, and creative work in all areas of visual communication. VCQ, the official publication of the Visual Communication Division of AEJMC, has published regularly since 1994. For 11 years, VCQ was distributed to more than 10,000 professionals and scholars through News Photographer magazine of the National Press Photographers Association.
Naila Hamdy to Serve on Journalism Practice Editorial Board
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
December 17, 2020
Prof. Naila Hamdy has been invited to serve on the editorial board of Routledge’s influential journal, Journalism Practice – a Q1 ranked journal within the field of Journalism & Media Studies. Her term begins in 2021.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy to Continue Service in her Editorship Role for Oxford Flagship Communication Q1 Journal
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
December 17, 2020
Prof. Shahira S. Fahmy was invited to continue her service as associate editor for the Journal of Communication published by Oxford University Press for two additional years. The Journal of Communication (JOC) is the flagship Q1 journal of the International Communication Association (ICA) and publishes the best scholarship on all aspects of communication research. As associate editor, Prof. Fahmy has been responsible for deciding whether a manuscript submitted for the journal should be published. In her editorial capacity for Q1 journals, Fahmy has chaperoned more than five hundred manuscript submissions. As an academic, she also has reviewed thousands of journal submissions and book manuscripts over the years.
Prof. Fahmy joined AUC in 2017. She has since published one book with Routledge, two special issues in Q1 Journals, five Q1 journal articles, and three book chapters, in addition to winning multiple top paper awards with AUC graduate students at the most prestigious Journalism and Mass Communication academic annual conference The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in the United States. She was recently elected to AEJMC association-wide leadership position and at this time is a member of the AEJMC Publications Committee.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy to Continue Editorial Board Service in Q1 Journal
December 17, 2020
Prof. Shahira S. Fahmy was invited last week by the incoming editor Prof. Mike Schmierbach from Penn State University to continue her service as an editorial board member for Mass Communication and Society. Fahmy has served as the associate editor of the Q1 Journal Mass Communication and Society journal for almost a decade and was selected to edit a special issue of the journal that was published in 2017 on media, terrorism and society.
Currently, Fahmy is also the associate editor of the flagship Journal of Communication. She presently sits on editorial boards of multiple Q1 journals in the communication discipline, including Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Mass Communication and Society, as well as other top communication journals including Media, War & Conflict and Visual Communication Quarterly. In 2020, Fahmy was elected to The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) association-wide leadership position and at this time is a member of the AEJMC Publications Committee.
JRMC Professors Author Chapters in Recently Published Book on Media Management
Faculty Members Featured: Kim Fox, Rasha Allam
December 17, 2020
JRMC Professors Kim Fox and Rasha Allam both have chapters in the recently published The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Media Management and Business. Prof. Allam's chapter 11 focuses on media management in Africa, while Professor Fox's chapter 17 focuses on Podcasting.
WT Firm Judges IMC Capstone Projects
Faculty Member Featured: Sherin Moody
December 17, 2020
Professor Sherin Moody invited members of Wunderman Thompson (WT) to serve as the panelists for the JRMC 4425 Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Capstone during a two-day zoom presentation that was held on December 6 and 9. After a full semester of research and creativity, eight groups and one independent study presented their creative strategy campaigns, whether these were public service announcements (PSAs) on topics like “Child Labor,” or repositioning campaigns for “Nubian Village”, “Lucille’s Restaurant”, “Rebranding of 555 perfume”, “Chatu Biscuit”, “Samara Gum", “Sweet Center”, “Nabulsi Soap” and “Aquarium Garden.” In the end, each group received an award for their projects. The winning groups, “Nubian Village” and “Nabulsi Soap'' and the independent study who did the repositioning campaign for “Chatu Biscuit” received the award for excellence, an internship at WT as well as an employment opportunity.
Safe Usage of the Internet
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Allam
December 10, 2020
On November 28, prof. Rasha Allam was invited as a keynote speaker at the Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA) University's 6th Annual Conference on Media Transformation with a sub-theme titled Safe Usage of Digital Media. Prof. Allam's keynote speech focused on the new Egyptian media laws in comparison to international models with specific reference to the safe use of digital media. The conference featured participants from different countries across the Arab region and was covered by Egyptian and Arab multimedia.
In the picture, Prof. Rasha Allam is receiving recognition by Prof. Khairy Abdel Hamid, MSA president in the presence of Prof. Nawal El Degwi, Chairman of the board, and Prof. Amani Fahmy, Dean of School of Mass Communication.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy Discusses her Fulbright Experiences at Prestigious Journalism and Mass Communication Conference in the U.S.
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
December 10, 2020
Given the increasing importance of visual communication in contemporary global discourse, JRMC Professor and Fulbright Scholar Shahira S. Fahmy will participate in a Fulbright Scholars Studying Visual Communication panel at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in New Orleans in August 2021. The other three panelists: James D. Kelly, Indiana University; Janis Teruggi Page, University of Illinois at Chicago; and Robin Hoecker, DePaul University, were in both developing and developed areas of the world on programs ranging from four months to a full year. The panelists will discuss their research and creative projects and their teaching experiences while living overseas
Prof. Fahmy was first awarded a Fulbright award to work with the U.S. Mission to the African Union for the Specialist Project with the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2014. She was then awarded a second Fulbright grant less than a year later. The grant-funded a fellowship on ISIS’s visual communication at NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence in Riga, Latvia. Findings of her research garnered positive attention on a global scale, within and outside the academic community, and its outcome has been used by advisors to the U.S. Secretary of State and published in a Q1 communication journal in 2020.
United Nations Internet Governance Forum
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Abdulla
December 10, 2020
Prof. Rasha Abdulla was invited to speak at the Main Session (Plenary) on Data at the United Nations Internet Governance Forum. The session was entitled “Data governance and practices lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic” and featured high profile speakers including Facebook’s Privacy and Public Policy Manager, and the World Health Organization’s Europe’s Regional Digital Health Coordinator.
The session tackled the large scale digital transformations (work, education, socialization) that took place since the pandemic started. This increased digital interaction raises relevant questions on data governance such as data collection, possible misuse, importance of data protection, and online safety. The session explored how COVID-19 has influenced the discussion on data governance and practices that have been put to an additional and severe test within the current pandemic. This session also proposed a critical review of the role that the data-driven technologies implemented in the pandemic have played for the protection and promotion of human rights and the lessons that this situation teaches us about their role in the future development of our societies.
The IGF is the biggest forum for Internet governance research and advocacy. It is convened by the United Nations and was held virtually this year from Nov. 2-6, and Nov. 9-17.
International News Flow
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
December 10, 2020
Veteran journalist Shahira Amin visited prof. Naila Hamdy's JRMC 5250 Seminar in International Communication on December 2, for a live virtual discussion of global news media structures and characteristics in addition to her insights on international news flow.
Masters Thesis Discussion
December 10, 2020
MA student Sara Tarek successfully defended her thesis “Instagram Use and Young Women's Body Image and Self-objectification In Egypt” on December 6, 2020. She was supervised by prof. Naila Hamdy, Prof. Shahira Fahmy, and Prof. Rasha Allam served as readers.
Civil Discourse in an Uncivil Age
Faculty Member Featured: Firas Al-Atraqchi
December 10, 2020
JRMC Chair Firas Al-Atraqchi moderated a webinar on History vs Fake News featuring journalist Alexander Heffner the host of "The Open Minds" program on PBS.
Heffner discussed the impact of President Donald Trump's use of Twitter and disparaging attacks against his political rivals. Heffner also discussed his book, A Documentary History of the United States (Tantor, 2020; Penguin, 2018), and the newest chapter “Populists Revolt…Democracy Under Duress” which explores contemporary American and global politics, populism, and the digital age through critical documents, speeches, testimonies, tweets, and other digital postings.
Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Rania Fouda
December 10, 2020
Adjunct Professor Rania Fouda's JRMC 3315 class hosted Salma Hamouda, the Executive Director at JWT advertising firm, as a guest lecturer. She took the class through several successful case studies from the agency's work and development from the creative brief stage to the final copy on air.
Field Trip
Faculty Members Featured: Rania Fouda
December 10, 2020
On November 24, Adjunct Professor Rania Fouda took her JRMC 3315 class to the JWT advertising firm for a site visit where they learned about agency structure, the functions of different departments, and their integrated communication offerings.
Students also worked on a dummy brief and came up with an advertising campaign.
Egypt’s Media Policy
Faculty Members Featured: Ahmed Taher, Mervat Abou Oaf
December 3, 2020
On November 24, 2020. Prof. Ahmed Taher and Prof. Mervat Abou Oaf were invited as Senior Advisors by the State Minister of Information to review and discuss the new proposed Media Policy for Egypt.
Establishing an Integrated Digital Media Platform on Covid-19
Faculty Member Featured: Hussein Amin
December 3, 2020
Hussein Amin, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication and Director of the Kamal Adam Center for Television and Digital Journalism was invited to speak to a group of Sudanese media professionals from newspapers, radio, and television channels in Sudan. The address was on
"Establishing an Integrated Digital Media Platform on Covid-19". The meeting took place at the Movenpick Hotel, Cairo Media City, on December 2, 2020.
Active Listening and Creative Thinking
Faculty Member Featured: Tara Al-kadi
December 3, 2020
Prof. Tara Al-Kadi gave a lecture on active listening and creative thinking skills for media professionals.
The lecture was attended by Sudanese journalists in collaboration with the Egyptian media production city.
After an in-depth exploration of the topics in the world characterized by fierce competition from many media platforms, participants engaged in active listening and creative thinking exercises to apply what they learned.
Podcast Pedagogy
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
December 3, 2020
On November 24, Professor Kim Fox facilitated the "Podcast Pedagogy: An AUC Conversation" for AUC's Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT).
Coping with Covid-19
December 3, 2020
On November 27, as a part of PodFest Cairo, Professor Kim Fox helped coordinate "Coping with COVID," an oral history of how podcasters from Africa have managed to continue podcasting during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Podcasters from Egypt, Tanzania, Angola, Kenya, and more shared their stories. The event was co-hosted with Africa Podfest. View the archive on the PodFest Cairo Facebook page.
Arab Digital Economy Index
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
December 3, 2020
Prof. Hesham Dinana was invited to attend the Seamless Middle East 2020 Conference in Dubai to participate in the announcement of the first “Arab Digital Economy Index”. Prof. Dinana is the lead author of this unique index that was developed to help the Arab countries improve their performance in the development of their future economies. The index was developed under the auspices of the Arab League- Federation of Digital Economy and was launched by former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
Expolink and EBA Webinar
December 3, 2020
Prof. Hesham Dinana moderated a webinar organized by Expolink (the Egyptian Exporters Association) and EBA (Egyptian Businessmen’s Association) on Future Markets. The speakers include prominent experts with success stories in growing Egypt exports in key sectors like agricultural products and building materials and heads of export councils and chambers of commerce.
Ahly and Zamalek
Faculty Member Featured: Alaa Abdel-Ghani
December 3, 2020
Adjunct faculty, Prof. Alaa Abdel-Ghani, wrote an article in Ahram online on the Ahly and Zamalek football club rivalry.
It can be read here.
A Lot of Talk on Chalk
Faculty Member Featured: Firas Al-Atraqchi
November 25, 2020
In mid-November, JRMC Chair Firas Al-Atraqchi joined 16 other AUC chairs to share strategies for online teaching which engage students. These were compiled by CLT in their latest issue of “Chalk Talk” and will be published later in a series of articles in Al-Fanar Media (the online magazine of Arab Higher education).
Field Trip
Faculty Member Featured: Ahmed Taher
November 25, 2020
Professor Ahmed Taher took his JRMC 4430 Advertising Agency Operations class on a field visit to 5 Degrees, one of the most prominent advertising agencies in Egypt today. The visit included meetings and presentations by the Managing Director, Mohamed El-Hazek, and his senior managers responsible for the art direction, social media, and on-the-ground activation. All Covid-19 precautionary measures were strictly observed.
Podcast Movement Virtual
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
November 25, 2020
On October 18, Professor Kim Fox kicked off Podcast Movement Virtual, #PMvirtual, the largest community of podcasters. Fox led the New Podcaster Bootcamp with the session "Quick Tips to Start Your Podcast." Screenshot credit: Steve Stewart.
Guest Speaker
November 25, 2020
On November 18, Wessam Abozeid, CEO of podU, the first Arabic podcast platform, spoke to Kim Fox's Introduction to Audio Production class about pitching podcast ideas. Students are preparing for their final project pitching and producing a podcast.
Photographic Gallery Monthly Webinar
JRMC Department
November 25, 2020
The Photographic Gallery (in the department of Journalism and Mass Communication) is pleased to launch “What We Talk About When We Talk About Photography”, it’s new monthly webinar series on current issues in photography and visual culture.
We invite you to join us on Monday, November 30 from 2:00-3:00 pm (Cairo Time) for Capturing Pandemics, the first webinar of the series. Over the course of the virtual event, Photojournalists Aladin Abdel Naby and Ahmed Hayman will reflect on the risks involved in the practice of photojournalism during a deadly outbreak, and how the ethics of capturing death by camera have evolved along the years. Additional content includes a presentation of the coverage of the Swine flu pandemic in Egypt in 2014. The discussion will be moderated by Dina ElDeeb, the gallery’s Curator, and will take place over Zoom.
Aladin Abdel Naby is an Egyptian Professor of photojournalism and photography at the American University in Cairo and a former Photojournalist at Reuters. Over the span of his 20 years with Reuters (1986 - 2006), he covered 5 wars and other significant events in the Middle East, North and Central Africa. His work has been published in international newspapers and magazines including the cover of Newsweek.
Ahmed Hayman is an Egyptian Photographer and former Photojournalist at Al Masry Al Youm newspaper (2008 - 2015). Hayman studied visual storytelling at the Danish School of Media and Journalism. In 2016, he founded Beit El Sura Photography school and studio in Cairo. He published his first photography book The Dream is Still Alive in 2018 on the Syrian refugee crisis.
Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://aucegypt.zoom.us/j/91062815216
Passcode: 001
Kim Fox's Chalk Talk on Podcasting
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
November 19, 2020
Professor Kim Fox authored an article on podcast pedagogy for this month's CLT Chalk Talk.
"Like radio, podcast’s predecessor, podcasts have a uniqueness in that they can be consumed while doing other things like driving to/from work, chores around the house, working out, and more. This dual functionality makes them ideal to incorporate into courses as supplementary reading material."
AUC-Penn State Collaboration
Faculty Members Featured: Nicolas Hamelin, Hesham Dinana
November 19, 2020
Prof. Hesham Dinana and Prof. Nicolas Hamelin have officially joined the EDGE program with PennState University.
AUC students will be paired with Penn State students during a 6 to 8 weeks project to develop a digital marketing campaign in support of a global export plan. AUC partaking with Penn State University EDGE Program is a great opportunity for students to boost their intercultural communication and global business skills. AUC participation in EDGE contributes positively to fostering internationalization – a requirement by most accreditation bodies. Internationalization of higher education enhances the students learning experience and their grasp of the intricacy of our globalized world. For more about the EDGE Program, please click here.
Social Media and the U.S. elections
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
November 12, 2020
In this article (in Arabic) for Asharq Al-Awsat, Associate Professor Naila Hamdy talks about social media use during the U.S. elections.
Looking at the U.S. elections from Egypt
Faculty Member Featured: Firas Al-Atraqchi
November 12, 2020
On November 9, students enrolled in the Caravan course, as well as editors from all three JRMC majors, joined their peers in the journalism program at the University of Central Florida to talk about the impact of the US election, COVID-19 response, gender equality, sexual harassment and other issues of importance to global youth. The students collaborated on joint story pitches to produce online content.
The joint Zoom class was organized by JRMC Chair and Caravan faculty advisor Firas Al-Atraqchi with Katie Coronado, Associate Instructor of Journalism, Radio-TV and Hispanic Media at the University of Central Florida at the Nicholson School of Communication.
Webinar: Research and Publishing
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
November 12, 2020
To encourage and enhance the research culture in the Journalism and mass communication department, JRMC's Publishing and Research Mentoring Committee held an informational webinar during Assembly Hour on November 4.
Titled How to Build and Maintain a Research Agenda to Generate Top Publications in our Communication Field, the webinar was attended by both AUC faculty and students. The panelists Prof. Shahira Fahmy, Prof. Rasha Abdulla, and Prof. Naila Hamdy focused on the refereed publication process, how to find reputable publishers in our field, and the value of networking. They discussed collaboration as a key to success and suggested tips for networking and building a research agenda. Panelists also discussed the importance of signing up for Google scholar and publishing in top-ranked journals to increase citations. The importance of avoiding predatory publishing was also clarified in detail.
Decolonial and Gender Podcasting
Faculty Member Featured: Ronnie Close
November 12, 2020
Prof. Ronnie Close hosted a guest speaker in his Digital Storytelling 3380 Course on Monday, November 9. Digital storyteller Zeina Dowidar from podcast organization Kerning Cultures visited the JRMC class and met with the students to discuss her career so far in this media discipline. Zeina has recently completed an MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge. She’s especially interested in decolonial and gender theory, and the intersections between them. To watch it, please click here.
Nile TV Interview
Faculty Member Featured: Tara Alkadi
November 12, 2020
Adjunct faculty Prof. Tara Alkadi did a TV interview on the Nile TV morning show on Thursday, November 5. She spoke about how women and youth can be empowered with the move toward a digital economy. For the interview, please click here.
Alumni News
JRMC Department
November 12, 2020
Rawan Lasheen, 27, has been nominated and won the Egyptian Parliament Elections 2020 round under the youth category. Lasheen is an AUC Graduate '15 Mass Communication: Communication and Media Arts with a minor in Economics and MA' 17 from Kamal Adham Center for TV and Digital Journalism with Honors. Working as an Economic and Business news anchor and in-house reporter at AlGhad News Channel based in Cairo.
Rasha Abdulla at the Internet Governance Forum
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Abdulla
November 5, 2020
Professor Rasha Abdulla was invited to be a discussant at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) GigaNet 2020 panel "Stakeholders and their Role in Internet Governance". GigaNet is the academic arm of the IGF. Prof. Abdulla reviewed and discussed four papers tackling different aspects of the topic. The papers were authored by researchers and professors from American University, University of Salerno (Italy), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Internet Governance Lab, United Nations University, and Institute for European Studies. The panel was chaired by Prof. Alison Gillwald, Executive Director of Research ICT Africa & Professor at the University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance (South Africa). The IGF is the biggest forum for Internet governance research and advocacy. It is convened by the United Nations and held virtually this year from Nov. 2-6, and Nov. 9-17. Prof. Abdulla will also be speaking at the Main (plenary) Session on Data Governance during the COVID-19 Pandemic next week.
Sara El-Richani Examines the Lebanese Press
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
November 5, 2020
Professor Sarah El-Richani’s chapter “Whither the Lebanese Press? The Trials and Tribulations Facing the Lebanese Print Media” has just been published in the Routledge Handbook on Arab Media, which serves as a comprehensive reference on the development of media in the Arab World. In her chapter, El-Richani surveys the Lebanese print media from its inception during the Nahda period to its present day. Despite facing an existential crisis exacerbated by the dire straits facing the country, the Lebanese media remains vibrant and pluralistic. “Despite the echo chambers, which inevitably exist, content that would at times disappoint and effectively at times serve the highest bidder, the vivacity and diversity of the Lebanese media in general and its press, in particular, is undeniable”, she argues.
https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-on-Arab-Media/Miladi%20Mellor/p/book/9781138385481
Subliminal Advertising
Faculty Member Featured: Nicolas Hamlin
November 5, 2020
Professor Nicolas Hamlin has had his article "A Neuro Analysis of Static Subliminal Advertising in Packaging", which looks at the effectiveness of subliminal stimuli in packaging, accepted in the journal of Euro marketing. A publication date will be announced soon.
Alumni News
JRMC Department
November 5, 2020
Congratulations to Alumna Sarah Seif '18 who was recently appointed as an Associate to the State Minister Of Information. Sarah Seif graduated from our Integrated Marketing Communications Major leading multiple roles since she was a student until reaching this recent position.
She started her Journey as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant to Media Law & Policy & Mass Communication with Dr Mervat Abou Auf and then taking multiple communication roles in the private sector till she decided to shift her career into Public & Media Policy.
JRMC 5250 Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
October 22, 2020
Guest Speaker Adel El Mahrouky ’05 joined Prof. Naila Hamdy’s International Communication class JRMC 5250 recently to share his insights on global journalism. Mahrouky has been the Middle East correspondent for CGTN (China Global Television Network) since 2011. He previously worked for NHK (Japanese network), Egypt TV, Nile News, and others.
This zoom event provided an opportunity for students to learn more about global media systems and explore issues related to world news and transnational news flows.
Thesis Supervision
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
October 22, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana was invited by the Maastricht School of Management (MSM)’s EMBA program to supervise a thesis titled: The Factors influencing the behavioral intentions of FinTech services and applications adoption in Egypt.
The student was granted the degree with honors.
Prof. Dinana was also invited to join the judging committee as an external reviewer for an EMBA Degree Thesis titled: Unearthing motivations behind consumers acceptance of Iced Tea: Application to the Egyptian Market.
Prof. Dinana was invited by Cairo University’s Faculty of Commerce Marketing Department to join the judging committee for a thesis titled: The impact of Humorous Advertising on Consumer Brand Attachment.
Decolonizing Climate Resilience
Faculty Member Featured: Ronnie Close
October 22, 2020
Professor Ronnie Close recently became the principal investigator on an international research project, Decolonizing Climate Resilience with the Open University, UK. The Arts and Humanities Research Council is funding the global project to look at how different indigenous communities cope with climate change. The project investigates what types of knowledge they have and how we can learn from this knowledge.
There are three different locations (Mexico, Bosnia, and Egypt) with the field research taking place in El Heiz in the Western Desert in the latter. As part of the project. AUC will host a conference with the participants and researchers. An exhibition and conference from the three locations will be held in the Tate Modern London next year at the end of the research project.
Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
October 22, 2020
Assault Police founder/creator Nadeen Ashraf spoke to Professor Kim Fox's Multimedia Writing class via Zoom on October 4. Ashraf began the campaign in the summer of 2020 to expose sexual assault and harassment in Egypt including a high-profile case involving a former AUC student. Her guest lecture highlighted how she fact-checks the content shared on the Instagram account, her savviness on social media, and her plans for the future when she completes her philosophy degree at AUC. The talk was arranged with the assistance of Fox's teaching assistant Mayar Ashraf Zarie ‘19.
Paper Published
Faculty Member Featured: Nadine El Sayed
October 22, 2020
Associate Professor of Practice Nadine El Sayed published a paper titled "Financial sustainability and the demise of the Egyptian blogosphere" in Media Industries journal.
The paper studies how the lack of a viable financial model to support Egyptian blogs, particularly political ones, has led the once active and plural platform for dissidence to become largely dormant. It examines the financial sustainability of bloggers through a comparative analysis of blogs and interviews with bloggers and social media makers who were leading voices of dissidence during the January 2011 uprising.
Media Industries is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal that supports critical studies of media industries, institutions, and policies worldwide. It was launched in 2014 through a collaboration of 10 universities and is published by Michigan Publishing.
For the paper, please click here.
MA Thesis Committee
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
October 15, 2020
Professor Naila Hamdy served on the MA thesis committee of Randa Toulan at the Faculty of Mass Communication at Cairo University who defended her work on investigative journalism on September 26, 2020. Professor Naila has been providing feedback on the student’s research throughout the progress of her work.
International Podcast Day
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
October 15, 2020
On International Podcast Day on September 30, Kim Fox assisted in organizing the Africa Podcasters Roll Call. The event was a chance for podcasters in Africa to be featured during the 90-minute session to discuss their podcasts. PodFest Cairo, which was founded and organized by Fox, collaborated with Africa Podfest to showcase podcasters on the continent. More than 80 people attended the virtual event that spotlighted podcasters from Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Africa. You can watch the archive on the PodFest Cairo Facebook page.
National Strategy for the Support of Irregular Workers
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
October 15, 2020
As part of his public service, Professor Hesham Dinana, was invited to serve on a committee formed by the Ministry of Planning & Economic Development to set a national strategy for the support of Irregular Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic. This initiative aims to develop a sustainable mechanism to support 4.4 million people and their families. This includes re-skilling and the development of new opportunities for those workers to integrate them into economic sectors that are more sustainable and less affected by volatile economic conditions.
Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Rania Fouda
October 15, 2020
Adjunct Faculty Rania Fouda hosted via Zoom Ms. Summer Elbosraty, executive creative director at Momentum MENA who spoke about creative copywriting, creative strategy, and concepts for advertising sharing with the students some real-life case studies from Egypt and abroad
Misinformation, Fake News and Journalism in the Time of COVID-19
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Allam
October 1, 2020
The second webinar on Misinformation, Fake News and Journalism in the Time of COVID-19 was organized by the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism in the American University in Cairo (AUC), in partnership with UNESCO, World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Office, and United Nations Information Center Cairo office. It was titled "Thinking About Disinformation Disorder: Formats of Misinformation and Mal-Information"
The webinar was moderated by Prof. Rasha Allam, assistant professor and associate chair at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at The American University in Cairo; and it hosts Dr. Omar Abou El Ata, Technical Officer for Health Emergencies at World Health Organization (Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office); Prof. Hanan Badr, Assistant Professor at Cairo University and Media and Communications Scholar at Freie Universität Berlin; and Journalist and digital media expert Khaled Baramawy.
Professor Shahira Fahmy Starts AEJMC Association-wide Leadership Position
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
October 1, 2020
On October 1, Fahmy started her three-year term on the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Publications Committee. Fahmy was elected for the AEJMC association-wide leadership position, earlier this year. Except for Professor Fahmy, all of the association-wide committee members are affiliated with prestigious academic institutions in the United States.
The Publications Committee is responsible for the oversight of the three association-wide journals: Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ), Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, and Journalism and Communication Monographs. The committee’s responsibilities include working with current editors during their terms to ensure the highest possible standards for the journals as well as developing plans to encourage quality submissions.
Fahmy is the current associate editor of the flagship Journal of Communication (JoC). She has served as the associate editor of Mass Communication & Society for almost a decade and currently sits on the editorial board of multiple prestigious journals in the communication discipline, including JMCQ, Mass Communication & Society, Media, War & Conflict and Visual Communication Quarterly. Fahmy joined AUC in 2017. She has since published one book with Routledge, two special issues in Q1 Journals, eight journal articles, and book chapters, in addition to winning multiple top paper awards at the AEJMC annual convention.
New Book Discussion on MBC Masr
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Allam
September 24, 2020
Professor Rasha Allam appeared on MBC Masr to discuss her new book. Watch the full interview.
Article for the Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
September 24, 2020
Professor Sarah El-Richani wrote an article for the Cairo Review of Global Affairs detailing the crippling economic crisis facing Lebanon, which has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the harrowing Beirut port blast. Prof. El-Richani argues that the economic and financial implosion and the devastating port explosion are both a direct result of years of mismanagement and corruption leaving the country at a crossroads, once again. For the full article, click here.
Interview by Ahram Online
September 24, 2020
Professor Sarah El-Richani was interviewed by Ahram Online for an article on the government formation process in Lebanon. The article with her comments can be found here.
Published Paper
Faculty Member Featured: Ahmed Taher
September 24, 2020
For the paper titled: Knowledge Transfer and Management Consulting: The Effect of Consultant and Client Characteristics. Please click here.
Research Article
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
September 24, 2020
Professor of Practice Kim Fox along with her co-authors David O. Dowling, Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and Kyle J. Miller, Ph.D. from the University of South Dakota had their research article A Curriculum for Blackness: Podcasts as Discursive Cultural Guides, 2010-2020 published online in the Journal of Radio and Audio Media (JRAM). The article, which originally won best debut paper in the Broadcast Education Association's (BEA) Multicultural Division in 2018 will be published in a JRAM's "Celebrating One Hundred Years of Radio" Special Symposium. The Special Symposium is scheduled to be published in November. For the article, click here.
JRMC Students are Finalists in the BEA On-Location Creative Competition
September 24, 2020
Congratulations to Noran Morsi and Mohamed Youssef who have been shortlisted as finalists for the Broadcast Education Association's (BEA) On-Location Creative Competition.
Noran produced "From Cairo to Brooklyn: The Arab American Experience," which was the winning podcast in this year's The Author's Challenge.
Mohamed produced "I Wish Something Happens and He Goes ..." for the Audio Production course in JRMC. His audio feature includes audio clips from his oral history interview with his aunt. The oral history component is a part of a collaboration with the Global Liberal Arts Alliance's (GLAA) Global Course Connection (GCC). The Audio Production course is taught by Professor Kim Fox.
BEA On-Location winners will be announced during a LIVE event, on Saturday, October 24 at 4 p.m. ET.
Interviews on Nile TV
Faculty Member Featured: Tara Alkadi
September 24, 2020
Professor Tara Alkadi had two interviews on Nile TV’s morning show. The first interview was on Friday, September 4, 2020. It was about youth motivation and skill development. The second Interview was on Sunday, September 20, 2020. It was about online education’s opportunities and challenges.
AEJMC Annual Conference
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
August 27, 2020
JRMC Professor of Practice Kim Fox recently took part in AEJMC's annual conference, the first virtual conference for the organization. Fox coordinated the programming for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) as the vice head of the commission. Fox has now moved to the head of CSW, a position that comes with a seat on the AEJMC board of directors.
Fox was a panelist on "Top Tech Tools for Efficient and Inclusive Teaching" where she discussed some hidden features in Zoom.
Additionally, Fox moderated a panel on "Women in Podcasting: Making Our Space" where they discussed issues, obstacles, and achievements of women in the fast-growing field. JRMC MA graduate student Jaidaa Taha co-moderated the session.
BLK Podfest
August 27, 2020
On August 12, JRMC Professor of Practice Kim Fox participated in the inaugural Blk Podfest event, which is a part of the Podfest Global Summit. The panel, which kicked off a 4-hour block of programming, was titled "Connecting with the Diaspora." Fox discussed PodFest Cairo, barriers to entry that Egyptian podcasters experience, the future of podcasting, and more.
BEA Pop-Up: Award-Winning Student Audio: How They Did It
August 27, 2020
On August 12, JRMC Professor or Practice Kim Fox co-moderated the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Pop-Up: Award-Winning Student Audio: How They Did It. Two of the panelists were JRMC students Nour ElTobgy (MMJ, Spring 20; pictured third row, second from the left) and Habiba Sallam (CMA; pictured second row, far right).
JMCQ acknowledges Professor Shahira Fahmy for reviewing articles in 2019
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
August 27, 2020
In the latest Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ) issue, the editor issued a formal acknowledgment recognizing Professor Shahira Fahmy and other 2019 reviewers. JMCQ is the flagship journal for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and Fahmy has sat on its board and other AEJMC publications for several years. Fahmy’s latest JMCQ journal publication was a finalist for the 2019 outstanding research article award.
Professor Shahira Fahmy publishes in Q1
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
August 13, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy published Exploring the Impacts of National Image, Service Quality, and Perceived Value on International Tourists behavior: A Nepali Case which was accepted for publication in the Q1 journal: Journal of Vacation Marketing. The paper co-authored with researchers from Nepal, China, and the United States bridges the literature of tourism and the literature of public diplomacy through a case study of a less-developed nation. The findings have both conceptual and practical implications.
Using Nepal as a case, the researchers examined the relationships between national image, perceived value, service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty for international tourists, in the context of a less-developed country. They found national image predicts perceived service quality, but service quality does not predict satisfaction, The research also shows that national image is an antecedent of the overall value, satisfaction, and loyalty of international tourists, thus adding one more solid evidence that national image does indeed have behavioral impacts.
Shahira Fahmy wins the top paper award at AEJMC 2020
August 13, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy won the top paper award at the top annual convention for The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) for the second year in a row.
The paper The narrow-minded world in the free atmosphere of Twitter: Exploring the visual narratives and patterns of Personalized Journalism in the Yemen Civil War was awarded first place at the visual communication division of AEJMC. The work is co-authored with AUC graduate students Mr. Hasan Karademir and Ms. Basma Mostafa.
The paper analyzes Yemen war images shared in personal Twitter accounts of Western, Saudi, Yemeni, and Iranian journalists. Findings suggest the presence of different narratives and patterns of visual framing by journalists from different backgrounds. The study contributes to the growing literature on journalistic practices on social media and allows for a deeper understanding of the extent and role of Personalized Journalism, specifically in the context of visual reporting on Twitter.
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is the major international membership organization for academics in the journalism and mass communication field.
Shahira Fahmy presented tips to find and maintain a research agenda at AEJMC 2020
August 13, 2020
In a research panel session on How to Find and Maintain a Program of Research, Professor Shahira Fahmy presented New to Research? Here are top tips for top scholars. The Graduate Student Interest Group and Visual Communication Division’s panel focused specifically on how to find and maintain a research agenda. Research deans and professors from US academic institutions discussed collaboration as a key to success and suggested tips for building a research agenda, coming up with original, creative studies, finding collaborators with similar research areas, and seeking to become an expert on a specific topic or method you enjoy.
Shahira Fahmy presented three refereed papers at AEJMC 2020
August 13, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy presented three papers this year at AEJMC. The first paper, The narrow-minded world in the free atmosphere of Twitter: Exploring the visual narratives and patterns of Personalized Journalism in the Yemen Civil War, was awarded first place in the visual communication division of AEJMC. The work that is co-authored with AUC graduate students Mr. Hasan Karademir and Ms. Basma Mostafa, analyzes Yemen war images shared in personal Twitter accounts of Western, Saudi, Yemeni, and Iranian journalists.
The second paper she presented, Ten Years of Longitudinal Research of Airliner Disaster News Photography: The Case of The New York Times, is co-authored with Professor Richard Lewis and Professor Jae-Hwa Shin from Southern Mississippi. The work bridges a gap in communication research by conducting a longitudinal visual framing analysis of airliner disaster news photographs and extends past visual communication research on airliner crashes and other topics involving catastrophe that have attracted the attention of media scholars.
The third paper, The Marriage of Inconvenience: An Exploratory Analysis of Media Convergence in Pakistan, with graduate student Mr. Muhammad Ittefaq from Kansas and colleagues from Pakistan, explores journalists’ perceptions of media convergence in Pakistan’s media industry and its socio-economic impact on their work and routines based on the hierarchy of influence model and the diffusion of innovations theory.
Earlier this year, Fahmy was elected to The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) association-wide leadership position and on October 1st will serve on the AEJMC Publications Committee.
Professor Sara El-Richani quoted in Ahram Online
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
August 13, 2020
Sarah El-Richani, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, shares her insights in this Ahram Online article on the impact of the recent explosions in Beirut.
"The cost of reporting while female" Seminar
Faculty Member Featured: Inas Mazhar
August 13, 2020
Adjunct Professor Inas Mazhar participated in the seminar, 'The cost of reporting while female' on July 16. It is was organized by the AIPS, Association of International Sports.
AJE 2020 Virtual Summer Conference
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
July 9, 2020
On June 19, Professor Kim Fox was a guest for the Association for Journalism Education 2020 Virtual Summer Conference (UK based): Session 2: Practice in an online environment:
Pandemic Professors Podcast
July 9, 2020
Professor Fox also appeared on the Pandemic Professors Podcast on June 25 to talk about emergency remote teaching in the spring and preparing to teach in the fall.
Growth Strategies for Technology SMEs in the age of the Next Normal
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
July 9, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana delivered an online workshop on “Growth Strategies for Technology SMEs in the age of the Next Normal”
The workshop was organized by Eitesal… an NGO representing IT companies in Egypt on June 23.
Strategy Savvy
July 9, 2020
Professor Dinana also presented a workshop on being “Strategy Savvy” for the Arab Scout Organization. The workshop was attended by representatives from 15 Arab countries on June 17.
Arab Media Forum
Faculty Member Featured: Hussein Amin
June 25, 2020
Adham Center Director, Prof. Hussein Amin, spoke at the annual Arab Media Forum that was held virtually this year from June 20-22, 2020.
Prof. Amin’s panel included H.E. Aly ElRemaihi, Minister of Information for the State of Bahrain; and Prof. Kais Elazzawi, Assistant Secretary-General, Media and Communication Sector, League of Arab States. That was the first session of the forum and was moderated by Mr. Mady ElKhamees, Secretary-General of the Arab Media Forum.
Cited in Al-Ahram English
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
June 25, 2020
Prof. Sarah El-Richani was cited in an Al-Ahram English article on the Lebanese economic crisis and recurring protests. The article with Prof. El-Richani’s comments can be read here.
JRMC Students at AEJMC
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Fahmy
June 18, 2020
Students enrolled in the JRMC 4480 Multimedia Reporting Capstone taught by Associate Dean Prof. Naila Hamdy this spring - won the first and third place in the student multimedia news story 2019-2020 contest sponsored by the International Communication Division of AEJMC.
The multimedia news story “The Corona Chronicles” produced by Noran Alaa, Eman Magdy, and Habiba Sallam was placed first and the multimedia story “Online Sexual Harassment” produced by Basant Samhout, Farah Rafik and Aya Abou Shady was placed third.
Congratulations to our emerging journalists. You make us proud!
BEA Pop-Up Session
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
June 18, 2020
Professor Kim Fox moderated a BEA Pop-Up session: Racial Injustice: A Necessary Conversation on Thursday, June 4, 2020. Over 100 educators participated in the dialogue about generating conversations on racial injustice as well as assignments that can be utilized to forward this discussion in a meaningful way. Finally, the session ended with the sharing of a racial injustice resource list for media educators including reading lists, podcasts, and documentaries on impacting change in our classrooms.
The Future of Podcasting
June 18, 2020
Professor Fox was one of three panelists for "The Future of Podcasting" session on Monday, June 15, hosted by Rise & Shine Audio (based in the UK).
Renay Richardson (top right), CEO of Broccoli Content who signed a joint venture with Sony Music last year
Christina Moore (bottom left), Founder of Don’t Skip Media
Host of the session and an audio content producer Fatuma Khaireh (bottom right)
For the replay of "The Future of Podcasting" on YouTube please click here.
Professor Shahira Fahmy presents three refereed papers at ICA 2020 and gets several papers accepted for AEJMC 2020
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
June 4, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy presented three refereed papers at the International Communication Conference (ICA) in late May. The conference that was scheduled to take place in Gold Coast, Australia, is the most prestigious international communication conference in the communication field. One of the papers was co-authored with her former MA student Omneya Ibrahim and the two other papers were co-authored with global researchers from Spain and Pakistan. Below is a detailed list of papers:
1. War or peace tweets? A framing analysis of terrorism on Twitter. Paper virtually presented for the Global Communication and Social Change Division at the ICA annual convention scheduled to take place in Gold Coast, Australia, May 2020. (with Hussain, S. ).
2. Visualizing the veil: Representation of Hijab in Internet GIFs. Paper virtually presented for the Visual Communication Studies Division at the ICA annual convention scheduled to take place in Gold Coast, Australia, May 2020. (with Ibrahim, O. ).
3. Does visual matter in campaigning online? A visual communication analysis on Instagram in 2019 Spanish Elections. ‘Secondary data is cool: Political communication research from open repositories. Congress on ‘Open Communication’ The Political Communication Association (ACOP) at the ICA annual convention scheduled to take place in Gold Coast, Australia, May 2020. (with Zamorra—Meediina & R., Reebolllleedo, M.)
Prof. Shahira Fahmy also had three refereed papers accepted for presentation at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). One of the papers was co-authored with her current MA student Hasan Karademir and the two other papers were co-authored with global researchers from the United States, South Korea, and Pakistan. Below is a detailed list of papers:
1. The narrow-minded world in the free atmosphere of Twitter: Exploring the visual narratives and patterns of Personalized Journalism in the Yemen Civil War. Paper to be virtually presented for the Visual Communication Division at the AEJMC scheduled to take place in San Francisco, August 2020. (with Karademir, H. )
2. Ten years of longitudinal research of airliner disaster news photography: The case of The New York Times. Paper to be virtually presented for the Visual Communication Division at the AEJMC scheduled to take place in San Francisco, August 2020 (with Shin, J. H. & Lewis, R. A.
3. The Marriage of Inconvenience: An Exploratory Analysis of Media Convergence in Pakistan, Paper to be virtually presented for the International Communication Division at the AEJMC scheduled to take place in San Francisco, August 2020. (with Ittefaq, M., Sheikh, A., Ejaz, W. & Yousaf, M.)T
Professor Fahmy publishes in Q1 journal
June 4, 2020
Professor Fahmy also had her manuscript Exploring the Impacts of National Image, Service Quality, and Perceived Value on International Tourists behavior: A Nepali Case accepted for publication in the Q1 journal: Journal of Vacation Marketing. The paper co-authored with researchers from Nepal, China, and the United States bridges the literature of tourism and the literature of public diplomacy through a case study of a less-developed nation. The findings have both conceptual and practical implications. Using Nepal as a case, the researchers examined the relationships between national image, perceived value, service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty for international tourists, in the context of a less-developed country. They found national image predicts perceived service quality, but service quality does not predict satisfaction, The research also shows that national image is an antecedent of the overall value, satisfaction, and loyalty of international tourists, thus adding one more solid evidence that national image does indeed have behavioral impacts.
Interview with Egyptian Channel 2
Faculty Member Featured: Tara Al-Kadi
June 4, 2020
In an interview with Egyptian channel 2 on May 23, 2020, Professor Tara Al-Kadi addressed the detrimental role the media plays during the crises such as Covid-19.
As a guest speaker for Shabab el Yawm (Today’s Youth), she highlighted the impact of news on viewers, the importance of selecting credible media sources, and the damaging role of fake news on the society’s overall well being.
A small segment from the episode discussing the media’s effects on mental health during the pandemic.
CFP: TEACHING JOURNALISM IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: CONSTRAINTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
JRMC Department
June 4, 2020
https://ecrea.eu/page-18206/8904700
Deadline for abstracts: June 22, 2020
MMJ Capstone Presentations
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
May 21, 2020
The MMJ Multimedia Journalism Capstone Final Presentations took place on May 12 under the supervision of Professor Naila Hamdy. Students produced six solutions-based journalistic stories covering a wide range of topics with relevance to their community. Eighty percent of reporting took place under lockdown conditions using crowdsourcing and other creative alternatives.
The themes of the presentations were as follows:
Noise Pollution on the Nile
Online Sexual Harassment in Egypt
Gated communities in Egypt
Autism in Egypt
Religious stance on suicide in Egypt
Corona Chronicles: Stories To Humanize the Crisis
The website of their work can be viewed here.
Professor Shahira S. Fahmy Shines a Spotlight on MENA Communication Research
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
May 21, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy’s latest Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ) work is the JMCQ Virtual Theme Collection on MENA Research. JMCQ is a Q1 publication and the flagship journal in the mass communication field. In this issue, Fahmy highlights the key findings, methods, challenges, and the marginal participation of MENA authors in leading communication journals. Overall in all fields, only 1.5 percent of the yearly global publication output comes from the MENA region. And in our field, compared to Arab countries, Israel by far has had the most publication output. In fact, 7 out of 10 articles she featured, showcases all of the JMCQ studies conducted in the 22 Arab countries in the past 30 years.
In her work, Professor Fahmy argues that local researchers are uniquely positioned to understand the region’s social, cultural, economic, political, and media trends. And to further advance MENA research, she advocates for greater collaboration and teamwork with institutions and scholars from the West. Collaboration and research teams that go beyond country borders and regional conflicts should also be encouraged. The goal, she explains, would be to ensure methodological diversity and merge global theories within regional contexts, while making significant contributions to the field at large.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1077699020921137
Thesis Defense
May 21, 2020
On May 14, Professor Shahira Fahmy held her first virtual thesis defense, which was documented in the video below. Special thanks to Professors Hesham Dinana and Rasha Allam for being on the thesis committee and for their insightful comments.
For the video, please click here.
CMA Capstone Presentations
Faculty Member Featured: Marwa Al-Mutafy
May 21, 2020
The Communication and Media Arts major of the Journalism and Mass Communication department celebrated their Capstone presentations on Sunday, May 17. There were five projects presenting work around the theme “Discover Egypt'' under the supervision of Assistant Professor and adjunct faculty Professor Marwa Ragaa Al-Mut’afy and her teaching assistant Ms. Passant El Gayar. The projects were; AswaNubia, Fayoumeyat, Siwi Guide, Folkology, and Sounds of Egypt.
The presentations were attended by Dean Nabil Fahmy and several faculty from the GAPP school as well as family and friends of the graduating students.
Here are links to the videos of the presentations:
Introductions & AswaNubia
Folkology
Siwi Guide
Fayoumeyat
Sounds of Egypt & Final Remarks
JRMC 3315 Final Project Presentations
Faculty Member Featured: Rania Fouda
May 21, 2020
JRMC Adjunct Faculty Rania Fouda concluded the final project presentations for JRMC 3315 and she hosted Mrs. Lina Fateen, Managing Director of Momentum Advertising Agency (part of FP7 network) as a judge for the final presentations.
Virtual Broadcast Education Association Conference
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
May 14, 2020
MA student Hasan Karademir gave a poster presentation at last month’s virtual Broadcast Education Association (BEA) conference. The presentation was based on a paper he wrote for the graduate Seminar in International Communications convened by Prof. Sarah El-Richani in Fall 2018. The paper explored the Shaping of Soft Power in the Middle East by Turkey and the United States.
"I am happy to represent my department and university with my paper at the BEA conference. It was an important experience for me because I could increase my knowledge regarding our field even in these hard times. Thanks again Prof. Sarah for the support," he said.
IMC Capstone Presentations
Faculty Member Featured: Sherin Moody
May 14, 2020
Adjunct Professor Sherin Moody invited Wunderman Thompson as the panel for the JRMC 4425 “Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) Capstone” during two days of Zoom final presentations that were held on May 12 and 13. Nine groups presented their creative strategies on the following topics: Marbella Gum, Squizz Up, Gellati Azza, Abu Haidar, Spiro Spathis, Hidden Sexual Harassment, Activ Sports Wear, Twinkies, and Tunis Village. Several group members were awarded internships at Wunderman Thompson.
ECREA Call for Papers
JRMC Department
May 14, 2020
General Announcement: The European Communication Research and Education Association call for papers on CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN INTERNATIONALLY CO-PRODUCED HIGH-END DRAMA: https://ecrea.eu/page-18206/8950340
Egyptian Export Council for Handcrafts
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
May 7, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana was appointed by the Minister of Trade & Industry Mrs Nevin Gamea to join the Board of the “Egyptian Export Council for Handicrafts” for a 3-year term. This council is responsible for developing the strategies and programs to promote global exports for this important sector that has both economic and social impact on workers in Egypt. It is also responsible to sustain and develop the sector capabilities to preserve Egypt's heritage in this culturally driven industry.
International Conference on Information Communication and Management
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
May 7, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana received an invitation to be a Plenary Speaker at the ICICM 2020 (the 10th International Conference on Information Communication and Management) in Paris - France on August 12-14, 2020.
The conference has been held in Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris (France), Geneva (Switzerland), Paris (France), Hatfield (England), Moscow (Russia), Edinburgh (Scotland), and Prague, Czech Republic in the past 9 years. ICICM features invited and keynote speakers as well as peer-reviewed paper presentations.
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management
May 7, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana was also invited to join the review board of the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. This Emerald academic publication is a leading Q-1 Journal with an HI index of 67.
Co-authored Book Chapter
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Allam
May 7, 2020
Professor Rasha Allam, Assistant Professor and JRMC Associate Chair, co-authored a book chapter with Ms. Salma ElGhetany, Researcher and Adham Center Executive Assistant to the Director titled News Media Literacy in the Digital Age: A Measure of Need and Usefulness of a University Curriculum in Egypt. The chapter is part of the newly released book Media Literacy in a Disruptive Media Environment, edited by William G. Christ, Belinha S. De Abreu and published by Routledge. This book is part of the BEA Electronic Media Research Series that brings together scholars researching media literacy from around the world. The book is available at Taylor and Francis ebooks here.
Rasha Abdulla joins World Economic Forum Project
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Abdulla
May 7, 2020
Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication Rasha Abdulla has joined the World Economic Forum's Advancing Global Digital Content Safety project as an expert consultant. The project, coordinated by the Media, Entertainment, and Culture Platform of the World Economic Forum, aims at countering harmful content online. An important feature of this initiative is to devise recommendations to reconcile content moderation practices and regulations with the protection of free expression online. The Steering Committee of the project as well as the consultants constitute a group of about 25 of the top experts on Internet governance and regulation worldwide.
JRMC 3355 Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Tara Al-Kadi
May 7, 2020
Adjunct Professor Tara Al Kadi’s JRMC 3355 Creative Strategy class recently hosted via Zoom the Chairman of Cilantro and the head of the company’s Transformation Team. Students have been also invited to participate in the next official Cilantro online campaign and some are also being considered for internships and future hire.
The Daily Debate on Nile TV International
Faculty Member Featured: Hussein Amin
April 30, 2020
The Daily Debate, the one-hour main program of Nile TV International, invited Prof. Hussein Amin to speak on Coronavirus and the Media. This was aired at 9:00 PM on April 23, 2020. For the interview, part 1, part 2, and part 3.
BEA 2020
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
April 30, 2020
This year the Broadcast Education Association decided to move to a virtual platform and save parts of the 2020 convention after the cancellation of the conference.
Prof. Naila Hamdy participated in the #BEAVirtualVegas conference which kicked off April 18 to 24, by attending division meetings, live paper sessions and by helping propose a panel together with the international division leadership to address strategies used to teach journalism and communication remotely, the future of online teaching and higher education and related topics given the Covid-19 situation.
The live session - "Pan-academics - The New Normal for Teaching - was moderated by Professor Kim Fox (board member) and included colleagues from UK universities. It attracted more than 40 participants and the panel proved to be very successful.
The Overseas Press Club Awards
Faculty Member Featured: Scott MacLeod
April 30, 2020
Professor Scott MacLeod served as a judge for the sixth straight year in the Overseas Press Club Awards. He was a member of the jury for the Flora Lewis Award, for “best commentary in any medium on international news.” The prize was given to Li Yuan of the New York Times for her 2019 articles on China and Hong Kong. “Li Yuan’s pieces were informative, insightful, and delightful to read; a great mix of vivid reporting with restrained but knowing perspective, and much of it entailing personal risk,” said the judges. Other members of the jury were Bill Keller of the Marshall Project, John Daniszewski of the Associated Press, Eleanor Randolph of the New York Times, and David Shipley of Bloomberg View. America’s oldest association dedicated to international news was forced to cancel this year’s awards dinner, scheduled for April 23, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
For more information:
https://opcofamerica.org/overseas-press-club-of-america-announces-annual-award-winners-2019/
The AUC COVID-19 Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Research and Innovation Initiative
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
April 30, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy along with her graduate students Ms. Jaidaa Taha Arafa, Ms.Nahla El Gendy, Ms.Amy Rizkalla, Ms.Mai Abdou, Mr. Eslam Gouda, and Mr. Mohamed Salama Ghamrawy had their proposal submitted for The AUC COVID-19 Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Research and Innovation Initiative selected for funding. Their proposal “Laugh away with Coronavirus memes: A framing-analysis of English- and Arabic-memes on social media” examines the concept of “memes'' in digital culture and its significance in visualizing the Corona pandemic, specifically on social media.
Memes are now gaining popularity as agenda setters of many issues at hand. They have become a key characteristic of the social media space. Coronavirus memes have spread digitally as fast as the virus itself, making social media the new digital asylum space for sharing visual messages following the COVID-19 virus outbreak. Not only are memes expressing the public’s concerns about the pandemic, but also documenting a historical moment in human history. The framing analysis will examine Coronavirus memes catering to both English-and Arabic-language audiences to illuminate in some detail the nature and role of this emerging online tool in communicating the global pandemic in the digital sphere.
The main contribution of their project will be in revealing the impact of online memes in framing the different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic on social media. This is not the first pandemic, nor will it be the last. Their work, therefore, will be crucial in identifying communication pathways that assist with ongoing efforts to both “flattening the curve” of the infectious disease as well as individual and collective resilience.
JRMC 3315 Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Rania Fouda
April 30, 2020
Professor Rania Fouda hosted Ms. Salma Hamouda Executive Director at Wunderman Thompson Cairo (JWT) in her class JRMC 3315 - Introduction to Advertising on April 22.
The topic was the creative brief and its importance in the advertising creative development process. Ms. Salma shared with the class some real-life case studies from their work with multinational and local clients. The presentation included the case study for the famous DHL campaign featuring Mo Salah. This session was done to replace the agency site visit that Professor Rania Fouda has planned as part of the overall curriculum.
The Caravan
April 30, 2020
Student reporters and editors put a public service agreement calling on the community to stay home this Ramadan. You can watch it here.
Published Article in The Africa is a Country Website
Faculty Member Featured: Ronnie Close
April 23, 2020
Professor Ronnie Close published a short article in the Africa is a Country website on the reading list for his book, Cairo's Ultras: Resistance and Revolution in Egypt's Football Culture. To read the article, please click here.
PodFest on BBC Arabic
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
April 23, 2020
Professor Kim Fox spoke to BBC Arabic about PodFest Cairo and podcasting in Egypt. You can listen to the segment here.
JRMC 4441 Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Sally Kandil
April 23, 2020
Canadian-Egyptian Filmmaker and producer Tarek Abouamin was a guest speaker in Professor Sally Kandil’s JRMC 4441 Camera and Editing Workshop class. After screening 2 of his short documentaries that were produced in Canada, he walked the class through the journey of his life as a producer and filmmaker using the Canadian structure as a model. He also had an interesting conversation with the students on the recent challenges of funding and producing a good story in Egypt.
Latest Article in Arab News
Faculty member featured: Alaa Abdel-Ghani
April 23, 2020
JRMC Adjunct Faculty Alaa Abdel-Ghani's latest article can be read here.
AEJMC Publications Committee
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
April 9, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy was just elected to a 3-year term to the Publications Committee for The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The Publications Committee is responsible for the oversight of the three association-wide journals: Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, and Journalism and Communication Monographs. Members participate in two face-to-face meetings each year. One during the annual conference and the other at the AEJMC December meeting. The committee’s responsibilities include working with current editors during their terms to ensure the highest possible standards for the journals as well as developing plans to encourage quality submissions. When editor terms are up, the committee is responsible for issuing a call for applicants and then evaluating applications. The process normally involves interviews with promising candidates. The committee will monitor, along with the AEJMC Board, the new publishing process with Sage Publications. The committee also explores, and recommends, new publication needs for the association.
CBS Radio Interview
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
April 9, 2020
Professor Kim Fox participated in an interview for a CBS Radio News segment on COVID-19's global impact. Professor Fox shared her insights on what has been happening in Cairo to curb the spread of the coronavirus. You'll find Fox's interview at about the 20-minute mark.
Global Media Systems Online Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Abdelhamid Mahmoud
April 9, 2020
Adjunct Professor Abdelhamid Mahmoud’s Global Media Systems class Zoom hosted Roqayah Tbelieh '14 as an online guest speaker on April 5. Holding multiple managerial positions in the fields of digital content, marketing, and communications, Tbelieh shared her insights on how "Big Data" is utilized by corporations and institutions; in terms of marketing and targeting their services to consumers online.
Introduction to Advertising Online Guest Speaker
Faculty Member Featured: Samar Ibrahim
Adjunct Professor Samar Abdelaal’s Introduction to Advertising class Zoom hosted Osman Badran, Brand Architect and CEO of Brand Bees agency and partner in Circus Advertising agency. He spoke about the principles of a successful creative strategy and the steps of writing a creative brief.
Inger K. Larsen visit to JRMC
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
April 2, 2020
On Monday, March 9, Inger K. Larsen, Associate Professor at the Danish School of Media and Journalism (DMJX), paid a visit to the Introduction to Mass Communication class convened by Prof. Sarah El-Richani to give a talk about the Danish media.
Larsen familiarized students with the different platforms that dominate the Danish media scene and talked about the challenges facing traditional media outlets as well as public broadcasting as more youth turn to social media for their news.
Faculty Member Featured: Ronnie Close
April 2, 2020
On Monday, March 9, Inger K. Larsen, Associate Professor at the Danish School of Media and Journalism (DMJX), visited Prof. Ronnie Close's JRMC 3380 Digital Storytelling class.
JWT Field Trip
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
April 2, 2020
On March 10, Professor Shahira took her JRMC 3310 undergraduate persuasion students on a field trip to J. Walter Thompson in Zamalek. #JWT is one of the biggest of five advertising holding companies that control a significant portion of the world's advertising, marketing, and communications firms. It was a great experience for the students. To watch a short movie about the trip, click here.
New Publication in SAGE Gazette
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
April 2, 2020
Professor Shahira published in March her latest analysis and research on terrorism media. “The Age of Terrorism Media: The Visual Narratives of the Islamic State Group’s Dabiq Magazine” was published in the International Communication Gazette. 82(3), 260–288
The analysis examines how soon after the Islamic State group declared itself to be the new ‘Caliphate’ on June 28, 2014, it launched an official transnational English-language magazine called Dabiq. The magazine, with a global outreach that transcended national and regional boundaries, covered the group’s strategic direction, military strategy, and alliances.
This research seeks to explain the crucial role its photographs had in framing the group’s visual narratives and how these narratives transformed over time. Drawing on recent literature, this work discusses the new trends in terrorism media and incorporates new ways to operationalize and measure framing in the context of visual communication and global terrorism. The work concludes with a discussion of the global implications of the findings and points out limitations and suggestions for future research.
Pre-launch Meeting for PRADA
Faculty Member Featured: Ahmed Taher
April 2, 2020
Professor Ahmed Taher held the first pre-launch meeting for PRADA. The student-run Public relations and advertising agency at the JRMC department is now operation Al with a pool of about 14 students and alumni support g as freelancers. Two external clients signed off their projects to PRADA and others within AUC are pending.
Arab Science Journalism Forum
Faculty Member Featured: Hussein Amin
March 12, 2020
On March 8-9, the Kamal Adham Center for Television and Digital Journalism in the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy together with the office of the Associate Provost for Research, Innovation, and Creativity, organized the Arab Science Journalism Forum titled Science Journalism: Towards Fostering an Environment for Growth. The opening of the two-day event included remarks by H.E. Minister of Information, Osama Heikal; AUC President Francis Ricciardone, Adham Center Director and Forum Chair Hussein Amin, and Associate Provost Alaa Eldin Adris. The forum included plenary lectures by key figures in the field of science communication and journalism, including Mariette Di Christina, Dean of Boston University College of Communication and former Editor-in-Chief of Scientific American, who delivered her lecture via video streaming; Ehsan Masood, Editorials Editor and Bureau Chief for Africa and the Middle East at Nature magazine; Carolyn Unck, Managing Editor of KAUST Discovery magazine, who also delivered an e-lecture; and award-winning journalist, virtual reality researcher, and MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellow, Pakinam Amer. The forum’s activities also included a strong lineup of speakers and research paper presenters participating in a variety of sessions including panel discussions, workshops, and paper presentations. Topics addressed include how the media coverage of the current COVID19- Coronavirus is being digested by the public in Egypt; how scientific literacy is key as a means to combat the constant flow of rumors and misinformation in scientific fields; the relationship between science and religion as is portrayed in the media; how freelance journalists can better prepare for covering science-related topics; the role of data analytics in making sound journalistic decisions; how digital content platforms are investing in and presenting issues relating to science and medicine to the general public; how niche publications such as SciDev, Nature, and others can simplify the sciences to cater to the general public; in addition to a status report on the perceptions, consumption, and content under science journalism in the Arab world. The speakers also addressed key issues such as new media, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality, and the ethics associated with them when presenting science-related content. Capacity-building needs and other challenges facing this growing field in Egypt, the region, and the world were also addressed.
The Forum also featured a Science and Innovation Walk under the Moataz Al Alfi pergola, where different science and journalism-related entities displayed their work and activities. Exhibitors included: Popular Science, SciDev, Nature and For Science (“Lelem”); the Egyptian Knowledge Bank; the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education; Egypt Independent; Al Ahram and WE telecommunications.
The forum was well attended by faculty members from AUC and other national and private universities; students, media professionals, and journalists. It received wide media coverage in both digital and print media.
Nearly 100 attendees at PodFest Cairo, Egypt’s first regional podcasting conference
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
March 12, 2020
PodFest Cairo, Egypt’s first podcasting conference, took place on Saturday, March 7, 2020, at the American University in Cairo’s (AUC) Tahrir Cultural Center (TCC). Hosted by AUC’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JRMC), the half-day conference was designed to bring together Egypt’s podcast creators and kicked off with the keynote speaker, Hannah Allam, a Washington, DC-based national security correspondent for National Public Radio (NPR). Her speech focused on the power of storytelling and included many examples of her challenges transitioning from print journalism to audio.
Sessions with tips for podcasters on narration, interviewing, selecting equipment, promotion, and monetization were held in English with simultaneous translation. Listening sessions were held in English and Arabic, highlighting the Ehky Ya Masr podcast and others.
The PodFest Cairo Podcast Pitch Competition showcased three finalists who pitched their ideas for new podcasts to a jury featuring Allam, AFP reporter Farid Y. Farid and Mazen Yasseen from Just a Go Proer.
(Ahmed Feteha won the grand prize for his idea for a mental health-focused Arabic podcast titled “On the Edge.” Feteha won a prize package that includes everything needed to start a podcast: three hours of studio time from Just a Go Proer; three hours of mentoring and coaching from the Ehky Ya Masr podcast team; an audio recording kit including a Zoom H5 recorder, headphones, and an equipment bag provided by Shams Stores; a one-year PRO license from audio-editing software Hindenburg; a one-year music license to Blue Dot Sessions; and a PodFest Cairo swag bag.)
Kim Fox, the conference organizer, said, “Egypt has a rich history of storytelling, so it makes sense that podcasts will be a part of that legacy too.”. Plans for PodFest Cairo include a micro podcasting event at AUC on the New Cairo campus in the fall for faculty, administrators, and students in addition to the next iteration of PodFest Cairo next year. For updates, follow PodFest Cairo on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as well as its website http://podfestcairo.com/
From left to right
- Ahmed Atef, Shams Stores
- Ahmed Feteha, PodFest Cairo Podcast Pitch Competition Winner
- Kim Fox, PodFest Cairo, founder and conference organizer
- Fady Fares, marketing manager, Shams Stores
- Ahmed Mohamed Abd el Aziz, Shams Stores
Latest Publication
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
March 12, 2020
Professor Fahmy’s latest publication “Personal Choice or Political Provocation: Examining the Visual Framing and Stereotyping of the Burkini Debate” (with Brian Bowe and Joe Gosen) was recently published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ), where it was nominated for the JMCQ 2019 Outstanding Research Article Award Finalists. A top Q1 journal, JMCQ is the flagship Journal of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). Using a mixed-method approach, Fahmy and colleagues looked at the visual portrayal of the burkini debate in leading international newswires. They examined how these news wires visually framed the burkini and whether they visually stereotyped women wearing them. Overall, the results of their visual communication study unpacks the role of news agency photography in visual representation.
JRMC Graduate Student Present Research Paper in Italy
Professor Shahira Fahmy’s graduate student Mai Gamal Abdou will present a refereed research paper at the Mass Media Conference (MEDCOM 2020) at the University of Cagliari, in Italy in May 2020. The student conducted her research, titled “Netflix Uses and Gratification and Third Person Effect" in Prof. Fahmy's "Mass Media Theories" graduate course in Fall 2019. Abdou's research focuses on the effects of binge-watching on undergraduate and graduate students in Egypt.
Role of the Board of Directors in Strategy Workshop
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
March 12, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana delivered a workshop on the “Role of the Board of Directors in Strategy” as part of the UN Women Corporate Directors Certification Program (CDCP). The program is organized by AUC and the Egyptian Institute of Directors (EIoD) and funded by a host of national and international organizations that are interested in Women Empowerment (such as UN, ILO, Sweden Sverige, Nanhdat Masr, The Ministry of Labour)
The 47th Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators
Professor Hesham Dinana’s new research paper titled “The Effect of Online and Offline Brand Experience on Brand Equity: The Case of Omni-Channel Retailing of High and Low Involvement Products in Egypt” was accepted at “The 47th Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators (ACME)” conference that will be held March 11-14, 2020, in San Antonio, Texas. This conference is considered one of the top marketing conferences in the US.
JRMC 4480 MMJ Capstone at the CLT Annual Seminar
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
March 5, 2020
Five students from the JRMC 4480 MMJ capstone were invited to participate in the CLT seminar annual seminar during the Co-design session together with Professor Naila Hamdy on March 4, 2020. They contributed to redesigning the course and gave suggestions of ways to enhance experiential learning in the MMJ major and came up with creative strategies to overcome barriers and challenges in collaboration with their instructor. The remainder of the class students covered the event as journalists.
Guest Speaker at the Visual Communication Theory and Research Class
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
March 5, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy had Distinguished Visiting Researcher Professor Diana Carlin Pierron lecture on visuals in political communication in the special topics graduate course Visual Communication Theory and Research on March 2, 2020. Professor Pierron also presented “Political Communication IS Persuasion” in Fahmy’s Public Opinion, Persuasion, and Propaganda undergraduate course. As a Professor Emerita of Communication from St. Louis University, Diana shared her expertise in political communication with research focusing on studies of political campaigns with an emphasis on debates, women in politics, and the development of civil society.
Guest Speaker at the Online Communication Class
Faculty Member Featured: Heba El Shahed
March 5, 2020
Students from Adjunct Professor Heba El Shahed's Online Communication classes attended a lecture on ethics in politics by Professor Emerita of Communication Diana Carlin.
Carlin brings expertise in political communication with research focusing on studies of political campaigns with an emphasis on debates, women in politics, and the development of civil society.
Guest Speaker at the Global Media Systems Class
Faculty Member Featured: Abdelhamid Mahmoud
March 5, 2020
Adjunct Professor Abdelhamid Mahmoud's Global Media Systems class hosted Professor Emerita of Communication, Diana Carlin, as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. Through an interactive lecture that showcased real-life examples and reflected on recent events, Diana, who served as an advisor to the Commission on Presidential Debates, shared her expertise on the topic of political debates, while identifying the main guidelines, requisites, meters, impacts, and trends in the field.
GAPP School Graduate Student Meet and Greet
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
February 27, 2020
Professor Naila Hamdy organized a meeting with GAPP school graduate students on Sunday, February 23. This was an opportunity to discuss important issues and concerns and to network with students. Several JRMC students attended the event.
Public Relations Class to Promote JRMC Graduate Masters Programs
Faculty Member Featured: Ahmed Taher
February 27, 2020
Prof. Naila Hamdy, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research met on Monday with Prof. Ahmed Taher's Public Relations class to brief them on the graduate master's programs in JRMC. The students will work for the next 7 weeks to produce a PR plan to promote the program to different publics.
Academic Editor
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
February 27, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana has been selected as the Academic Editor for a new book titled “Sales Dynamics”
The book will be published by intechopen, the world's leading publisher of Open Access books. IntechOpen counts three Nobel Laureates among its authors and researchers.
The book focuses on how organizations manage their sales processes and teams as they stand in the front line of organizational change due to ever-evolving business dynamics. It helps companies ensure sales sustainability and enhance their ability to lead organizational transformations through the effective use of the data tsunami to generate insights that make the sales process more personalized and more relevant to both consumers and business customers.
:https://mts.intechopen.com/welcome/d24814965fe945e4b7ddab9186ed7622%20/
Methods of Analyzing Visual Messages
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
February 27, 2020
Professor Shahira Fahmy presented methods of analyzing visual messages at the first International Conference on Hate Speech at the University of Murcia in Spain in February 2020.
The conference was in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Equality, LGTBI, and Families and Social Policy of the Region of Murcia, and focused on the dissemination of scientific methodologies of analyzing hate speech online, as well as case studies on hate speech in different digital contexts.
Latest Article in Arab News
Faculty member featured: Alaa Abdel-Ghani
February 27, 2020
JRMC Adjunct Faculty Alaa Abdel-Ghani's latest article can be read here.
The International Communication Journal Digital Journalism
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Abdulla
February 20, 2020
Professor Rasha Abdulla has been invited to serve on the editorial board of the international communication journal Digital Journalism, published by Taylor & Francis. Digital Journalism is the backbone and premier outlet for advancing international research into digital journalism studies (DJS). The journal aims to maintain its position as a leader of cutting-edge journalism research, providing a critical forum to advance scholarship that intersects with numerous disciplines.
Prof. Abdulla is also a member of the editorial boards of The International Journal of Press/Politics; Global Media and Communication; Review of Communication; and Global Media Journal—Mediterranean Edition. She previously served on the editorial boards of Journal of Communication; Asian Journal of Communication; and Journal of Applied Communication Research.
Round Table Discussion
Faculty Member Featured: Hesham Dinana
February 20, 2020
Professor Hesham Dinana was invited to join a round table discussion hosted by the School of Business Forum titled “Business Reconfigured”. The round-table discussion was shared with Egyptian and international experts from the Business industry and academia to discuss the future of business and its impact on Executive Education.
Professor Dinana's presentation focused on the “Future Economies" and how they are shaping our understanding of employment/contracting relationships and the need to re-skill or up-skill a future workforce.
Professor Dinana's presentation concluded that the impact of digitization is evident but it should be considered as an enabler to deeper economic, social and political changes that will drive the reconfiguration of business.
Call for papers AUSACE 2020
JRMC Department
February 20, 2020
The Deadline is March 30, 2020.
https://www.oru.se/humes/ausace2020
Bright Lights, Big Shadows
JRMC Department
February 20, 2020
Pictures of the opening of the Bright Lights, Big Shadows exhibition can be seen here.
Norwegian Events
Faculty Member Featured: Naila Hamdy
February 13, 2020
Professor Naila Hamdy moderated two discussions of Asne Sierstad’s book Two Sisters: A Father, His Daughters, and Their Journey Into the Syrian Jihad organized by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Cairo on the occasion of the launch of the Arabic translation of her newest book at the Cairo Book Festival.
Both events held during the first week of February 2020 were attended by a mix of prominent journalists, publishers, professors, and authors.
The internationally acclaimed writer and journalists’ latest book is a factual account of the radicalization of two Norwegian-Somali girls. Written in a literary journalism style, the book addresses questions of integration, identity, and belonging in Norway.
2020 BEA Media Festival of Arts Audio Winners
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
February 13, 2020
Professor Kim Fox has been announced as the recipient of two BEA Festival of Media Arts awards as executive producer for the Ehky Ya Masr Podcast:
Faculty Audio - Best of Competition in International: "Ehky Ya Masr: How Egypt's Water Crisis Impacts Food Production Promo"
Faculty Audio - Best of Competition in Short-Form Production: "Ehky Ya Masr: Come Drink Tea Promo".
Several of her students have also won awards in the 2020 BEA Media Festival of Arts audio competition. Nour El-Tobgy, an MMJ major, produced an audio feature, "The President Jailed my Grandfather." It was selected to receive the BEA Best of Festival King Foundation Awards - the top awards given during BEA’s Festival of Media Arts, a competitive festival open to BEA faculty and student members." This is an honor given to only 21 students and faculty out of more than 1700 entries in the 2020 competition. The recognition comes with a $1000 award.
In other audio categories:
1st place: Basant Samhout (MMJ) "It's Time For 'The Talk" where she asks her parents how they learned about sex education. Category: student audio, international (new this year)
1st place: Habiba Sallam (CMA) "Lady of the Empire Podcast," about historically influential Arab women. Category: student audio, specialty/podcast (new this year)
3rd place: Youssef Essam Afifi (CMA) "Omar Makram: A Forgotten Egyptian Figure," an Egyptian national hero. Category: student audio, educational program
Award of Excellence: Nada Mostafa Naguib (MMJ alumna) "The Cost of Once in a Lifetime," about the cost of weddings in Egypt. Category: student news, radio feature reporting
Nile TV Interview
Faculty Member Featured: Marwa AlMut'afy
February 13, 2020
Assistant Professor and Adjunct Faculty Marwa Ragaa Al Mut'afy appeared on Nile TV's Cairo Local Time on February 4 to discuss the 51st Egyptian Book Fair. To watch the interview, click here.
Cinema Workshop Call for Papers
JRMC Department
February 13, 2020
Cinema & Islam How Filmmaking Shapes Islam and How Islam Shapes Filmmaking London / 12 JUNE 2020. For more information, click here.
Book Signing and Discussion
Faculty Member Featured: Rasha Allam
February 6, 2020
Professor Rasha Allam had her book discussion and signing ceremony on Sunday, February 2 at the Book Fair at the Egyptian Conference Center. Prof. Allam’s book titled, “Policies Regulating the Media”, surveys media laws, policies, and regulations in the Middle East countries, presents models from Eastern and Western European countries, and analyzes the new Egyptian media regulatory framework.
The event was well attended by the heads of the Egyptian media regulatory bodies, media professionals, and academics in the field, and was covered by main Egyptian newspapers and TV channels.
The book is published in Arabic by Dar Nahdet Misr.
The Adham Center Annual Awards Dinner for the Year 2020
Faculty Member Featured: Hussein Amin
February 6, 2020
The Adham Center’s Annual Awards Dinner for the year 2020, held on January 23, has received wide media coverage and exposure. The event recognized the class of 2020 graduates of the Masters in Television and Digital Journalism; awarded the former president of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, the late Safaa Hegazy, with the Memorial Award; and awarded TV presenter, and AUC alum, Ramy Radwan, with the Best Performance Award of the year.
Picture: from today’s Al Ahram, print edition (26/1/2020)
JRMC Graduate Students Present Research Paper in the UK
Faculty Member Featured: Shahira Fahmy
February 6, 2020
Graduate students in the Journalism and Mass Communication department Basma Mostafa Taha and Jaidaa Taha Arafa presented a research paper at the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) conference at the University of Brighton, in Brighton, UK. The conference was held from January 8 to 10, 2020. The students conducted the research, titled “The Representation of Women in News: The Case of Egypt” in Professor Shahira Fahmy's graduate course in Spring 2019.
Taha and Arafa conducted a content analysis to closely examine the representation of Egyptian women in the most popular online newspaper in Egypt, Youm7. The study sought to analyze whether women are adequately represented in Egyptian online newspapers by examining whether or not the number of news stories that mention women is congruent with the true number of women in Egyptian society, identifying which newspaper sections are more likely to mention topics related to women and examining whether or not women are more likely to be mentioned in sections that are stereotypically associated with women.
Preliminary findings revealed that women are severely underrepresented, amounting to approximately 16% of the total names mentioned in the sampled articles, even though women constitute around half of the Egyptian population. Women were also more likely to be mentioned in sections that are stereotypically regarded as more feminine, such as arts and culture. The findings suggest, similar to global trends, that women in Egypt continue to be underrepresented or stereotypically represented in news media.
Kim Fox presented at AMICAL 2020 in Kuwait
Faculty Member Featured: Kim Fox
February 6, 2020
Professor Kim Fox presented at the annual American International Consortium of Academic Libraries (AMICAL) conference that was held in Kuwait on January 15-18, 2020. Fox presented #AUCdiaries: An AMICAL Small Grant recap as a part of the Community Idea Exchange.
AMICAL is an association of 29 American-style universities located in 22 countries.
Kim Fox visits The Wall Street Journal
While on a visit to New York City earlier in January, Professor Fox got a tour of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) from JRMC alumna and WSJ Young Audiences Editor Ethar El Katatney, and met with former colleague Janet Babin, the producer of the WSJ's The Future of Everything Podcast.
A Public Honorary Lecture to 57375 Hospital
Faculty Member Featured: Ahmed Taher
February 6, 2020
Professor Ahmed Taher delivered a public honorary lecture to 57375 Hospital about his new book: “Business Development”. The lecture was attended by the executive team of the Hospital, many of the employees, and some of the parents of patients. A book signing ceremony followed where about 50 books were sold and signed. All the sales proceeds in full were donated to the hospital on the spot.
Editorial Board of Cinema and Media Cultures in the Middle East
Faculty Member Featured: Sarah El-Richani
February 6, 2020
Professor Sarah El-Richani has joined the editorial board of Cinema and Media Cultures in the Middle East, a new scholarly academic book series from Peter Lang Publishing. Titles to be published in the series will engage recent developments in the Middle East film and media studies attempting to “help point the field in an intellectually meaningful, pedagogically effective direction with both current and, in some cases, significant, previously ignored, older work”.
Latest Articles in Arab News
Faculty member featured: Alaa Abdel-Ghani
February 6, 2020
JRMC Adjunct Faculty Alaa Abdel-Ghani's latest sports articles. For the first article, please click here and for the second article, please click here.