Blurred Boundaries or Conflicting Epistemologies: Information activism and journalism in Egypt

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In this article, I discuss how information activists and journalists in Egypt claimed to acquire knowledge about the world, looking particularly at the period of 2012 and 2013, during which the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and Mohammed Morsi in turn were leading the country. Taking a point of departure in anthropological fieldwork with information activists and journalists in Egypt, I show that information activists and journalists often had very similar practices and goals, which at times made the boundaries very blurry. Yet I argue that there was a significant distinction between the epistemologies of information activists and journalists. Information activists claimed to acquire knowledge about events from being part of them, whereas journalists claimed to acquire knowledge about events from observing them without taking part. Relatedly, information activists and journalists had significantly different relationships with their audiences.
Original languageEnglish
JournalJournalism Practice
Volume11
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)48-61
Number of pages14
ISSN1751-2786
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

ID: 185229180