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Journalist Fellows' Papers

Religious Islamic Satellite Channels: A Screen That Leads You To Heaven

Reuters Institute Fellow's Paper

Mohamed el-Sayed, a reporter for al-Ahram weekly in Egypt, has written a study on the boom in religious satellite channels in Egypt and the Middle East. 

Titled ‘Religious Islamic Satellite Channels: A Screen That Leads You To Heaven’, Mohamed’s research gives an overview of the history of Sunni Islamic channels, their missions, and their raison d’être. It also provides a critical analysis of their content, the kind of Islam they promote, their programme formats, and the religious scholars they host.

Interviews with a sample of twenty viewers of TV in Egypt conducted by Mohamed show that religious channels, and especially Al-Nas, has become a daily habit, especially amongst the rural conservative audience.

As with all Fellows’ research papers, any opinions expressed are those of the author and not of the Institute.