Egyptian State Media in Opposition: Al-Ahram under Morsi, 2012-2013

Based on quantitative and qualitative analysis of opinion columns in the Egyptian state newspaper Al-Ahram during Mohamed Morsi’s 2012-13 presidency, this article argues that columnists substantially shifted to critical commentary on government policies and advanced an oppositional political agenda. Seeking to delegitimize the Muslim Brotherhood, the newspaper’s columns continued to promote the worldview of the non-Islamist elite that had been privileged under the prerevolutionary regime. Only a small number of columns sided with Morsi and his allies. These findings support the claim that Egypt’s established political institutions helped undermine Morsi’s electoral legitimacy.