Rasha
Abdulla

Position
Professor
Department
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
Email
rasha@aucegypt.edu

Profile

Brief Biography

Rasha A. Abdulla is a professor in the journalism and mass communication department at The American University in Cairo (AUC). She served as chair of the department in 2010-2011. Rasha Abdulla has a PhD in communication (December 2003) from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Her BA (’92) and MA (’96) in journalism and mass communication are both from AUC. She is the proud recipient of several teaching and research awards, including the AUC Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award, the Mostafa and Ali Amin Journalism Award, and the GAPP School Research Award, among others. Rasha  Abdulla is a member of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum, a group of experts appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations.

Abdulla's current research interests include media in transition; media uses and effects; new media; social media and political participation; public service television; and freedom of expression. Her doctoral dissertation was the first large scale academic study of the uses and gratification of the internet among Arab students in Egypt. She is the author of "The Internet in Egypt and the Arab World," [in Arabic, Afaq Publications]; "The Internet in the Arab World: Egypt and Beyond" [Peter Lang, Inc]; "Policing the Internet in the Arab World" [the Emirates Center for Strategic Study and Research]; and numerous other research articles, reports, and book chapters.

Abdulla has taught at the University of Miami, Georgia State University and Portland State University in the United States. She has spoken or guest lectured at many campuses around the world, including Stanford University, the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, Columbia University, Marquette University, California State University at Long Beach, Florida International University, San Francisco State University, University of California, Santa Barbara and Aarhus University in Denmark.

Abdulla is an international consultant, providing research consultancies and training to a list of national and international clients, including UNESCO; the Carnegie Foundation; IREX; Internews; the Open Society Foundations; the Anna Lindh Foundation; Panos Institute Paris; Cospe International; Media Diversity Institute; the African Journalists' Union; and others.

Abdulla is an occasional op-ed writer, and appears frequently on national and international media interviews. She is active on Twitter. You can follow her tweets in English and in Arabic at https://twitter.com/RashaAbdulla. More information about Dr. Abdulla is available on her website at www.rashaabdulla.com.

 

     

      • Abdulla, R. (in press). "How diverse are Egypt’s media: A look at the post-revolution presidential elections." Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies.
      • Abdulla, R., Poell, T., Rieder, B., Woltering, R., & Zack, L. (In press). "Facebook polls as proto-democratic instruments in the Egyptian revolution: The ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ Facebook page." Global Media and Communication.
      • Abdulla, R. (2016). "Navigating the boundaries between state television and public broadcasting in pre- and post-revolution Egypt." International Journal of Communication, 10, 4219–4238. Retrieved from http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3630/1766
      • Abdulla, R. (2016). "Public service broadcasting in Egypt: Strategies for media reform." In J. Obar, D. Freedman, R. McChesney, & C. Martens (Eds.), Strategies for media reform: International perspectives (pp. 281–295). New York: Fordham University Press.
      • Levine, T., Ali, M., Dean, M., Abdulla, R., & Garcia-Ruano, K. (2016). "Toward a pan-cultural typology of deception motives." Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 45(1), 1–12. doi:10.1080/17475759.2015.1137079
      • Abdulla, R. (2016). "The Middle East: Media in the midst of change." In W. Hachten, & J. Scotton (Eds.), World news prism: Digital, social and interactive (9th ed.) (pp. 177–195). Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell.
      • Yousef, D. & Abdulla, R. (2016). "Religious minorities in cyberspace: Identity and citizenship among European and British Muslims." In N. Mellor, & K. Rennawi (Eds.), Political Islam and global media: The boundaries of religious identity (pp. 138–157). New York: Routledge.
      • Poell, T., Abdulla, R., Rieder, B., Woltering, R., & Zack, L. (2015). "Protest leadership in the age of social media." Information, Communication and Society, 19(7), 994–1014. doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1088049
      • Rieder, B., Abdulla, R., Poell, T., Woltering, R., & Zack, L. (2015). "Data critique and analytical opportunities for very large Facebook pages: Lessons learned from exploring “We Are All Khalid Said”." Big Data and Society, 2(2), 1–22. doi:10.1177/2053951715614980
      • Woltering, R., Abdulla, R., Poell, T., Rieder, B., & Zack, L. (2015). "A page and its politics: Situating Kullina Khalid Sa’id in Egypt’s ideological landscape at the time of revolution." CyberOrient, 9(2). Retrieved from http://www.cyberorient.net/article.do?articleId=9694
      • Abdulla, R. (2015). "Media diversity in Egypt: Monitoring newspapers and talk shows during the first post-revolution Parliamentary elections." In P. Valcke, M. Sukosd, & R. Picard (Eds.), Media pluralism: Concepts, risks and global trends (pp. 226–236). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
      • Abdulla, R., & Keenan, K. (2015). "Perceptions of celebrity advertising in Egypt: A focus on gender." Journal of Communication and Media Research, 7(1), 15–23.
      • Abdulla, R. (2014). "Egypt’s media in the midst of revolution." Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved from http://carnegieendowment.org/2014/07/16/egypt-s-media-in-midst-of-revolu...
      • Abdulla, R. (2014). Al-i’lam al-masry fi khedam al-thawra [Egypt’s media in the midst of revolution]. Washington, D.C.: The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved from http://ceip.org/13vB8Xn
      • Abdulla, R. (2014). "Media pluralism in the Arab region." Contribution to the UNESCO World trends in freedom of expression and media development report. (All authors listed as members of an “advisory group.”) Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/world-media-trends
      • Abdulla, R. (2013). Mapping digital media: Egypt. New York: Open Society Foundation.  Retrieved from http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/mapping-digital-media-egypt
      • Abdulla, R. (2013). A general look at media diversity in selected Egyptian newspapers (March-April 2013). London: Media Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/MDI%20Final%20R...
      • Abdulla, R. (2013). Nazhra ‘ama ala al-tanawo’ fi-wasai’l al-i'lam (mars-epril 2013) [A general look at media diversity in Egyptian media (March-April 2013)]. London: Media Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/MDI%20Final%20R...
      • Abdulla, R. (2013). Media diversity during Egypt’s Constitutional referendum (November-December 2012). London: Media Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/b-studies-repor...
      • Abdulla, R. (2013). Al-tanawo’ al-i’lamy athnaa l-esteftaa ala dostour Masr (November-December 2012). [Media diversity during Egypt’s Constitutional referendum (November-December 2012)]. London: Media Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/b-studies-repor...
      • Abdulla, R. (2012). Public service broadcasting in Egypt. Paris: Panos Paris Institute and the Mediterranean Observatory of Communication.
      • Abdulla, R. (2012). Media diversity during Egypt’s Presidential elections (May-June 2012). London: Media Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/b-studies-repor...
      • Abdulla, R. (2012). Al-tanawo’ al-i’lamy fi taghtiyat al-entekhabat al-re’asiya al-Masriya (May-June 2012) [Media diversity during Egypt’s Presidential elections (May-June 2012)]. London: Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/News%20Document...
      • Abdulla, R. (2012). Media diversity during Egypt’s Parliamentary elections (November-December 2011). London: Media Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/News%20Document...
      • Abdulla, R. (2012). Al-tanawo’ al-i’lamy fi taghtiyat al-entekhabat al-Parlamaniya al-Masriya (November-December 2011) [Media diversity during Egypt’s Parliamentary elections (November-December 2011)]. London: Media Diversity Institute. Retrieved from http://media-diversity.org/en/additional-files/documents/News%20Document...
      • Abdulla, R. (2011). The revolution will be tweeted. Cairo Review, 1(3). Retrieved from http://www.thecairoreview.com/essays/the-revolution-will-be-tweeted/
      • Abdulla, R., & Abou Oaf, M. (2011). Collective guilt as a response to evil: The case of Arabs and Muslims in the Western media. In M. Fackler & R. Fortner (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of global communication and media ethics (pp. 734–751). Oxford: Blackwell.
      • Abdulla, R. (2010). The changing Middle East media over the past 20 years: Opportunities and challenges. In B. Korany (Ed.), The changing Middle East (pp.59–84). Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
      • Abdulla, R. (2009). Policing the Internet in the Arab World. The Emirates Occasional Papers. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: The Emirates Center for Strategic Study and Research (ECSSR).
      • Abdulla, R. (2009). The federal democratic republic of Facebook. Democracy, 34, 35–38.
      • Abdulla, R. (2008). Arabic language use and content on the Internet. Alexandria, Egypt: Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Retrieved from http://www.bibalex.org/a2k/attachments/references/rasha%20en.pdf
      • Abdulla, R. (2008). Mohtawa wa estekhdam al-logha al-Arabiya ala al-Internet [Arabic language use and content on the Internet]. Alexandria, Egypt: Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Retrieved from http://www.bibalex.org/a2k/attachments/references/rasha%20ar.pdf
      • Abdulla, R. (2007). The Internet in the Arab world: Egypt and beyond. New York: Peter Lang.
      • Abdulla, R. (2007). Islam, jihad, and terrorism in post 9/11 Arabic discussion boards. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(3). doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007. 00363.x
      • Abdulla, R. (2006). An overview of media developments in Egypt: Does the Internet make a difference? Global Media Journal--Mediterranean Edition, 1(1), 88–100. Retrieved from http://globalmedia.emu.edu.tr/images/stories/ALL_ARTICLES/2006/spring200...
      • Abdulla, R. (2006). The status of higher education in Egypt: Where are we compared to others? And why? Proceedings of the AUC Research Conference. Cairo, Egypt: The American University in Cairo.
      • Abdulla, R. (2005). Towards believing what you see on the Egyptian news…. Well, at least most of it. Proceedings of the AUC Research Conference. Cairo, Egypt: The American University in Cairo.
      • Abdulla, R. (2005). Taking the e-train: The development of the Internet in Egypt. Global Media & Communication,1(2), 149–165. doi:10.1177/1742766505054630
      • Abdulla, R. (2005). Al-Internet fi-Masr wal-alam al-Arabi [The Internet in Egypt and the Arab world]. Cairo: Afaq Publications.
      • Abdulla, R. (2005). What they post: Arabic-language message boards after the September 11 attacks. In M. Salwen, B. Garrison, & P. Driscoll (Eds.), Online news and the public (pp. 279–302). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
      • Abdulla, R., Garrison, B., Salwen, M., Driscoll, P., & Casey, D. (2005). Online news credibility. In M. Salwen, B. Garrison, & P. Driscoll (Eds.), Online news and the public (pp. 147–164). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
      • Lin, C., Salwen, M, & Abdulla, R. (2005). Uses and gratifications of online and offline news: New wine in an old bottle? In M. Salwen, B. Garrison, & P. Driscoll (Eds.), Online news and the public (pp. 221–236). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
      • Abdulla, R. (2004). Entertainment-education in the Middle East: Lessons from the Egyptian oral rehydration therapy campaign. In A. Singhal, M. Cody, E. Rogers, & M. Sabido (Eds.), Entertainment-education and social change: History, research, and practice (pp.301–320). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
      • Abdulla, R. (2003). The uses and gratifications of the Internet among Arab students in Egypt (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (Order No. 3119897). The University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. Dissertation Abstracts International, DAI–A, 65/01, 11.
      • Abdulla, R. (2000). Why kids want their MTV: A cross-cultural perspective. In L. Gher, & H. Amin (Eds.), Civic discourse in the Middle East and digital age communication (pp. 19–34). Greenwich, CT: Ablex.
      • Abdulla, R. (1996). The uses and gratifications of music television in Egypt: Why kids want their MTV (Unpublished master’s thesis). The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt.      

    • Excellence in Research Award, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, AUC (June 2017)

      Excellence in Research Award, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, AUC (June 2016)

      Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award, AUC (June 2011)

      Excellence in Research Award, School of Business, Economics and Communication, AUC (May 2007)

      International Communication Association Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award (May. 2003)

      University of Miami Outstanding Graduate Student Award-2003 (April 2003)

      University of Miami Research and Creativity Award - First place (March 2003)

      University of Miami Outstanding Graduate Student Award-2002 (April 2002)

      University of Miami Research and Creativity Award - Second place (March 2002)

      University of Miami Scholarship (Aug 2000 - Dec 2003)

      Georgia State University Scholarship (Aug 1999 - May 2000) 

      Mostafa and Ali Amin Journalism Award (Feb 1993)