Communication, Society and Media ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 27 Original Paper News Trend in Political Participation: Does News Convince Female Electors to Vote? A Comparative Study between Egypt’s (Cairo) and Morocco’s (Rabat) Media Campaigns Monia Mohsen 1* & Iman El-Bastawisi 2 1 October University for Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA University), Egypt 2 SAPE Dep., the American University in Cairo & the Facu lty of Postgraduate African Students, Anthropology Dept., Cairo University, Egypt * Monia Mohsen, Advertising and Public Relations Dept., October University for Modern Sciences & Arts (MSA University), Egypt Received: February 7, 2020 Accepted: February 18, 2020 Online Published: February 24, 2020 doi:10.22158/csm.v 3n1p27 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/cs m.v3n1p27 Abstract The aim of this paper to explore the news availability and its effect on female voting behaviour in Egypt’s capital Cairo and Morocco’s capital Rabat political elections. The study used an exploratory research design, working within a qualitative paradigm two sources of evidence were employed. Commentary was compiled from respondents: (i) Twenty in-depth face-to-face interviews with key respondents from Egypt and Morocco (ii) Four focus groups with each group containing six respondents in Egypt and Morocco. In regards to the findings, the media impact was apparent in both countries that influence citizens. However, they mentioned minimal influence by the available political news. Egyptian citizens confirmed that they were not convinced that the available news convince females to vote, as they felt that the available newspapers and news websites is of less credibility, yet Moroccan citizens confirmed that the available news is credible and it does convince females to vote. Mentioning social and cultural determinates that affects females in the society, both Egyptians and Moroccans claimed that females have their full rights that gives full freedom to participate in the elections. Finally, both citizens conformed that the social media, is the most effective medium employed in political media campaigns. Keywords female, voting, news, Egypt and Morocco www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 28 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 1. Introduction The most famous and probably the shortest definition of democracy was delivered by Abraham Lincoln in h is historic Gettysburg Address of 1863: “Government of the people , for the people, by the people”. Democracy as a perception, it is way different and multifaceted, it is something which is documented by plenty of modern democracy theories (Saage, 2005; Schmidt, 2010). Besides, a main factor which distinguishes these challenging theories, is the participation level and the engagement forms they expect from cit izens (Dahlgreen, 2009). Yet, one main civ ic duty which is common by all modern theories of democracy, is that the citizens should keep themselves informed about public issues; first to be able to participate in the public d iscourse, second to form qualified political opin ions, and finally to implement their right to vote. Past studies have shown that the Arab media tend to operate with authoritarianis m and social responsibility as media norms, which override liberalis m. Past evidence also shows that Arab governments used press laws and intimidation to close down media and news outlets to maintain their strict control over the media and its content (Rugh, 2004; Sakr, 2001). However, there was a slow movement towards democratic reform in Egypt that allowed more freedom of the press and the adoption of western democratic press principles. The former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was required to resign after 18 days of strikes and social arrest. Media played the role of engaging and organizing the protes ts. Moreover, it was a major element in build ing the movement (Sohail & Chebib, 2011). The important effect of media during the revolution led the government to block internet (consequently no access for Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…, etc.), and blackout mobile phones’ network. However, those barriers were not sufficient, as successful workarounds were found (Sohail & Chebib, 2011). People were attracted to media and eventually they were attracted to the revolution leading them to participate. During Pres ident Hosni Mubarak’s regime, the Egyptian media environment was characterized by inconsistency and uncertainty. Mubarak had strict control over media outlets and operations through various laws such as the Egyptian penal code, the 1996 press law, the Egyp tian constitution, and press licensing laws. Nevertheless, in the later years of Mubarak’s reg ime, the Egyptian media started to observe much freedom and democracy when the existing government allowed the format ion of the first daily independent newspaper Al Masry Al Youm, plus it eliminate the ban on issuing licenses for private channels (Al Masry, 2012). On the other hand, the Egyptian television environment started to embellishment in 2000s, for the first time, when, the Egyptian government conformed on the issuing of issue licenses, which allowed private Egyptian television channels to be launched. Mainly the government was under severe pressure to satisfy the national business niche, pamper in state investments and finally to surpass other Arab countries to be the finest among Pan Arab media production. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 29 Published by SCHOLINK INC. It is not only Egypt in the Arab region who fought for freedom, years ago following the March 1998 elections, but also an alliance government headed by opposition socialist Abderrahmane Youssoufi, which is main ly fo rmed of min isters chosen from opposition parties. Morocco Prime Minister Youssoufi's government was the first government elected chiefly from opposition parties. Moreover, it was the first time in Arab world, the modern political history, that the opposition seized power after the elections. As for now the current government is ru led by Saadeddine Othmani. The 2011 pro-democracy 20 February revolutions, injected a new energy into the Moroccan state media. The expansion of the Moroccan media industry reflects its historical, political and social subtleties in country. Besides, the history of the Moroccan media shows a pervasive uncertainty with irregular series of openness and closure which is depending mainly on the government’s acceptance, and its need to endure modernizat ion encounters; such as encouraging journalists to debate and to challenge the historical constitutional taboos, as the recent constant restrictions on critical reporting is reducing journalists again to self-censorship. Still, the limited possibility and impact of this movement vulnerable merg ing all of these trends. This leads to understand that media strategies and promotional campaigns, which are usually used to help increase their share through election campaigns (Kotler, 1975). Indeed, authors assume that perceptions of candidates and voting objectives are more generally focused on personality image, rather than policy (Guzmán & Sierra, 2009). It is crucial to consider media and communicat ion processes generally in the study of conflict formation which has been widely pred ictable (Hoffmann, 2013). Given what has been discussed thus far, this led the researcher to seek understanding the news in Egypt and Morocco in order to exp lore the news availab ility and its effect on female voting behaviour in Egypt’s capital Cairo and Morocco’s capital Rabat political elect ions. To address this, five main areas were d iscussed from cit izens perspectives (i) The media impact in Egypt and Morocco (ii) The extent were the female electorates influenced by availab le political newspapers or news website (iii) Female electorates perception of the available news (iv) Social and cultural determinants of the female political participation, and finally (v) Most effective medium employed in political media campaigns. This paper does not represent the political, religious, economic and/or social views of the authors. The paper is structured as followed: literature review, methodology, findings, and conclusion. 2. Literature Review The studies are mostly very relevant to the discourse under construction and provided insight into the various dimensions of the topic. On rev iewing the literature of the topic under examination, it has been found that many studies were done in the point under research; however, most of these studies were not conducted on the Arab media. Only limited number of studies were done on that area. Few literature studies conducted in in Egypt and Morocco. The importance of women’s involvement in formal politics www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 30 Published by SCHOLINK INC. or political representation has been underlined by large number researchers of feminist and democracy researchers. Yet, many forms of polit ical part icipation or other behaviors exist outside of the formal political scope must be tackled in order to both acknowledge their importance along with how they cooperate with more fo rmal political behaviors. Naib (2011) wrote about females who had become polit ical activ ists. Thusly, they utilized online life to illuminate and report their “ace progressive stories and commitments” adequately. Their online posts, pictures, recordings and tweets became moment web-based life hits, so turning into a web sensation and turning into an energizing cry to move others to jo in the fights at Tahrir Square. As an example, Naib (2011) in her written news article for Aljazeera, t itled “Women of the Revolution” reports on a number of young women who had become political act ivists. As such, they used social media to inform and document their “pro-revolut ionary stories and contributions’ very effectively. Their on-line posts, pictures, videos and tweets became instant social media h its, so going viral and becoming a rally ing cry to inspire others to join the protests at Tahrir Square. What the discussion has highlighted thus far is the dichotomy faced by Egyptian women. The Arab spring, and more so, the revolutions of January and June revived women’s aspirations. Women became active actors that helped shape the future of Egypt, they felt at last they had a voice and their contributions recognized (Khodair & Hassib, 2015). Naib (2011) claimed that a real sense of how women felt about their part icipation with in the revolution, Egyptian women, just like men, as they all as Egyptians shaped a new political and social scene (Naib, 2011). Ironically beyond this, such aspirations remained very much an idealist view and the reality proved to be much more complex, because women faced social and cultural obstacles, and still do even to this day (Botman, 1999; Bastawy, 2014, 2015; Frantzman, 2017). According to OpCit Research (2013), reviewed the barriers to women’s inclusion in politics, and, through case studies and research with new media users, how new media may should embrace the growth women’s involvement in all, different levels, political part icipation, and, o f course, including formal representative politics. It focused on new media such as Computer Assisted Communication (CAC), social networking, networked activ ities, online fo rums. The study used a focus group with a d iverse group of women recru ited from the general public; also, in-depth twitter-enabled survey, and an in-depth semi-structured survey of members of an international professional women’s network. Finally, the s tudy revealed that several barriers to women’s involvement and new media strategies should be developed using gender mainstreaming principles. Besides, there were few differences between male and female uses of new media. Women seemed to be more interactive on social media, as they have more followers and likes, compared to men. Mcleod et al. (1999), that examined the ro le of community integration and mass and interpersonal communicat ion in forecasting two types of local polit ical participation; “institutio nalized” acts of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 31 Published by SCHOLINK INC. participation, and less traditional acts of participating and speaking out in a forum. It showed a strong role of newspaper readership and a somewhat lower impact of interpersonal discussion on institutionalized participation. Different patterns emerged for participation in a civic forum, Television news use had no direct impact on either type of participation, but it did have a modest indirect impact on institutionalized part icipation. Moreover, Bakker, T. P., & de Vreese, C. H. (2011) added that political participation has attracted a great deal o f scholarly attention. Start ing from a notion of differential media use and an encompassing notion of polit ical participation, this art icle tests the relationships between media use (newspaper, te levision, and Internet) and offline and online forms of political participation. Findings from a national survey reveal that a variety of Internet uses are positively related with different forms of political part icipation, whereas the relationship between most uses of traditional media and participation are weak, though positive. Moreover, positive relat ionships between online communicat ion and non-informational uses of the Internet vis -à-vis participation are found. Moreover, Sylvia Tamale in her book: When Hens Begin to Crow Gender and Parliamentary Politics in Uganda. Stating that Uganda is unique in its affirmative action program for women-participation. The book mainly studies how women have adapted their legislat ive strategies for empowerment in light of Uganda’s patriarchal h istory and social structure. President Yoweri Museveni, in the late 1980s, claimed that Uganda’s effective development was main ly because it increased gender equity, plus it supported the opinions by involving females in centered policies in motion; for example, saving thirty-nine seats for women in the parliament. The study referred to other African and non-African countries struggling with the same challenges of democracy and development; moreover, it showed that media contributed in help ing participation of women. Unlike majority of studies, a study by Wilkins (2010) b laming media for declining political participation among cit izens. The study is faulting media for declining political part icipation in the United States. As the survey research results indicate that public engagement and political suspicion may be related with polit ical Participation; however, these procedures are not straightforwardly described by watching television. Instead, newspaper reading and television news watching, along with level of education, tend to be related with electoral part icipation. The author suggests that uncertainty be re-conceptualized as a healthy part of the democratic progression. Finally, Tolbert, C. J., & Mcneal, R. S. (2003) suggests that changes in communication technology may play an important ro le in influencing electoral behaviour. Th is study main ly focuses on the communicat ional part that traditional models of voter turnout may be under-specified with respect to changes in the media, especially use of new information technologies. Furthermore, the Internet improves voter’s perception and informat ion about electorates and the elections; as a result, it increases voters’ participation. Respondents with access to the Internet and online election news were significantly more likely to report voting in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections. It also suggests www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 32 Published by SCHOLINK INC. that access to Internet and online election news significantly, improved the chance of voting. 3. Method According to Malhotra, Birks, and Wills (2010), Qualitative research approach (Figure 1) is divided mainly into two categories direct and indirect. The researcher mainly used both direct approaches. Figure 1. Qualitative Research, Source: Malhotra et al. (2010) 3.1 Research Instruments The paper used two sources of evidence: face-to-face semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The advantages and disadvantage of these sources of evidence is well documented and will not be rehearsed here. The rationale for this techniques merge is found in what the paper aimed to exp lore. The aim of this paper to exp lore the news availability and its effect on female voting behaviour in Egypt’s capital Cairo and Morocco’s capital Rabat political elect ions. In addition, the design was concerned with extracting detail appertaining to individual interpretations and richness of individual insight relevant to news content. Looking at each technique in brief: 3.1.1 Face-to-face Semi-structured Interviews Qualitative research is a category of research design that is concerned with individual interpretations; and richness of descriptive reports of individual insight which is mainly used in feminist research (Hakim, 2000). Moreover, according to Carson et al. (2001), if a politician wants to test a sudden incline in quantitative poll, he/she is required to conduct qualitative research to understand the reason and deep feelings of voters. Promise, Tony Blair’s campaign name, used qualitative approach to test www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 33 Published by SCHOLINK INC. citizens’ feelings towards Tony Blair; they used the Blair focus groups to know people’s feelings towards the brand. Simultaneously they asked some citizens to write letters to Tony Blair (Scammell, 2007). Th is research conducted twenty in-depth face-to-face interviews with citizens in both capitals Cairo and Rabat (key informants – see table 1). Respondents were chosen from occupations such as academia, communicat ions, financial services, organizat ions. Table 1. Interviewees Interviewees Moroccan Egyptian Director Marketing Manager Media Relation Manager Sales Manager Media Account Manager Housewife Economic Research Production Executive Student-Faculty of Languages Student- Faculty of Law Dig ital Market ing Executive Television Reporter Finance Associate Sound Engineer Cost Manager Oncologist Interior Designer Creat ive content Director Freelance Creative Director Human Resources Executive Key informants were selected because they were well informed about the issue pertaining to political landscape, the access was established with indiv idual respondents via face to face interaction to make sure that they are willing to participate in the study, interview appointment was scheduled and conducted upon respondents’ agreement. This was made possible because the study had an Egyptian female researcher in situation. Owing to the sensitivity of the topic, some interviewees refused access while others agreed and were happy about it. The interview schedule, with associated questions, concentrated on five key areas: (i) the media impact in Egypt and Morocco (ii) The extent were the female electorates influenced by available political newspapers or news website (iii) female electorates perception of the available news (iv) Social and cultural determinants of the female political participation, and finally (v) Most effective medium employed in political media campaigns. 3.1.2 Focus Groups Morgan (1996) suggest focus groups are a valuable tool in qualitative consumer research when conducted from a truly qualitative perspective. Moreover, they work fo r topics concerned with (i) convictions and beliefs of others and (ii) group interactions that may knock into t he motivation and unconscious areas of the human essence. To this end, four focus groups were conducted with each www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 34 Published by SCHOLINK INC. containing six respondents (Morgan, 1996; Threlfall, 1999; Hakim 2000; Malhotra & Briks, 2003). Respondents were drawn from: socio-economic groups A and B from d ifferent professions, as noted in earlier in table 1 above. Moreover, based on particular demographics, such as, education, gender, nationality and age respondents were targeted and placed into one of the four focus groups. Unlike Egyptian focus groups, it was an obstacle in Morocco to set the focus groups with n a place, which was café and restaurants, with d ifferent citizens. Therefore, given that the topic negotiates an important political issue which is controversial topics in both Egypt and Morocco, the paper wished to explore the differing opinions of the various cohort of citizens, and ascertain whether they were able to influence and change opinions of one another. In essence, as an unexplored topic, value from focus g roups, allowed the researcher to reach valuable evidence on language or behavior and capture real -life communicat ion among the various focus group members (Threlfall, 1999). A combination of snowballing, judgmental and referrals were used to access suitable respondents, focus groups revolved around the same interview guidelines; in order, to confirm what has been concluded from the interviews. 4. The Peripherals All research instruments were being tested throughout the pilot study; the pilot study allowed adjustments and pre-warning aspects within the study that could demonstrate any problem. On the other hand, the possibility of reliab ility and generalizab ility were conceded as Morocco and Egypt’s has a very unstable political situation; also, the attitudes from city to city and from urban to rural. Given the environment and sensitivity of the study, Judgmental and Snowballing techniques were considered appropriate forms of sampling. With regards to ethical issues, before participating within the study all respondents were made aware of the nature, topics and purpose. Also, all respondents consented to have their names published. However, names will not appear with in this paper. Each indiv idual will be coded from the alphabet from A to J and have an initial letter as (e) o r (m) depends on their country. Retouring to cultural and polit ical sensitivity, all fieldwork was conducted by a trained female Egyptian researcher, in Cairo, Egypt and, within the natural and familiar setting of the respondents. The interviews and focus groups were conducted in Arabic, as its convenient for both Egyptian and Moroccans; thus, the issue of forward and back translation was addressed, main ly, two steps to translation were conducted. First, interviews, and, focus group’s questions were written in and translated from English to Arabic. These were then sent to an experienced English/Arabic translator to approve the translation reliability. After, the completion of the fieldwork, instruments were translated from Arabic back into English during the process of transcribing data. The integrity of the respondents spoken word was maintained throughout. Finally, all semi-structured interviewers were voice recorded via an electronic devise, as well as, copious notes taken. Similarly, focus groups were recorded to in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 35 Published by SCHOLINK INC. order to remember the discussion. In-depth interviews and focus groups are necessary in emerging marketing theories. A large number of studies using qualitative methods have been conducted in market ing in the consumer context (e.g., Belk, 1992; Belk et al., 1988; Alam, 2005). However, in this paper, the author intends to follow the theory building purpose by using in-depth field interviews with Egyptian and Moroccan citizens. As, research does advantage from having different sources of evidence. Additionally, the use of multip le sources of evidence helps in achieving construct validity in a qualitative research (Yin, 1994). In -depth interviews are used more in academic research with 15-25 people (Hakim, 2000). 5. Findings There are five main areas that the study explored from the cit izens perspective, (i) the media impact in Egypt and Morocco (ii) The extent were the female electorates influenced by available political newspapers or news website (iii) Female electorates perception of the availab le news (iv ) Social and cultural determinants of the female polit ical participation, and finally (v) Most effective medium employed in polit ical media campaigns. Where necessary data extrapolated via the various research tools will be used in conjunction with each other to help support discussion under the five areas noted above. Looking at each: (i)The media impact in Egypt and Morocco: This section focused upon general key questions that explored the respondents’ knowledge on media impact in Egypt and Morocco, the section involved around five questions that revolved around the importance and impact of media in both countries in regards of most used media and the credible one. During the face-face interview phase it transpired that the media impact was apparent in both Egypt and Morocco, that had a huge influence on citizens. Ostensibly, citizens believed that nowadays digital media has a huge impact on daily lives, and most people get information and news from on line media as respondent B(e) noted: “media is the thing that we wake up to its our source of news, and mostly it’s so credible.” Also, respondent I(m) “media is credible as long as you know how to interpret the message” Respondent C (m) added, “I don’t buy newspapers for political news I go for online news, and I believe what I read, why would they lie” Besides, respondent H(e) supported, “I don’t read newspapers I get all new either from Facebook or from by friends and family” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 36 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Citizen also confirmed that the Media impact on the social level is more palpable than political one, as respondent J(e), “media impact is high we learn everything from media, we get updates about our family and friends through, we even know how to dress from media, and we get some political updates” What became evident throughout the interviews and all focus groups that citizens noted a huge media impact, especially on teenagers and young adults, that when the interviewer asked on media impact, mostly all cit izens confirmed that all people became media users by different means, so eventually citizens are always updated by what happened in the country either polit ical or social news, as respondent D(e) added, “we are always online smart phones made it so easy to be updated by all news; for example, I am subscribed on certain news application, that send me news minute by minute” (ii) The extent were the female electorates influenced by available political newspapers or news website Within this section the paper wished to explore extent were the female electorates influenced by available political newspapers or news website. For instance, despite what has been discussed in the section above, they mentioned min imal influence by the available political news on females. Here questions focused upon areas related to the availab le newspapers and online news with a common theme. Citizens confirmed that that the news available during elect ions are not strong motive for voting, Respondent B(m) “the news does not help us in finding the suitable candidate” Citizens were also asked to evaluate news content that they find daily or weekly according to their usage, Respondent C(e) added, “mostly the available news is an agenda from the government” Respondent A(m) supported, “we find the new but it doesn’t mean that the news available if of a value” During the focus groups citizen were confirming that they find news, in both countries, as they news always available on tv, online or through newspapers. However, they mentioned that not always updates about the political arena. (iii) Female electorates perception of the available news It was found that Contrary to popular belief, media exposure seems to have little relat ionship to voters'; prior political attitudes and educational levels are much stronger predictors of these perceived images rather than the available news. Egyptian citizens confirmed that they were not convinced that the news (availab le news) convince females to vote, as they felt that the availab le newspapers and news websites www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 37 Published by SCHOLINK INC. is of less credibility, yet Moroccan citizens confirmed that the availab le news is cred ible and it does convince females to vote. As respondent B(e) went on to pointed out: “of course, the news available during the voting period that specific times will all support the candidate” Egyptian citizens confirmed that news credibility is weak and does not provide the true image consequently it does not help in the voting behavior, respondent E(e) added, “I go vote but not because of the news is trustworthy. but because I will be fined if I didn’t vote” Some cit izens confirmed that the voting behavior is done according to prior informat ion regarding the candidates, and the available news is usually is a form of updates rather than valuable news, Respondent E(m) added, “we vote because we have a prejudgment on the candidate” (iv) Social and cultural determinants of the female political participation The penultimate part of the interv iews and focus groups explored the perceived role of women within the society. Its important part to understand the society role. Here questions focused upon seven areas with a common theme of social and cultural determinants. Citizens from both countries agreed upon female having their fu ll rights in the society, as respondent E(e) stated, “men and women are equally treated in the society” On the other hand, only one respondent from Morocco claimed that females and males a re not treated equally and still female d id not achieve their freedom, Respondent I(m), “females are bargain ing and fighting, but still they are mostly home as housewives” Also, citizens were asked to comment on the female ro le in the political arena, which was more likely positive and the role in the society, all respondents equalized the role as male make ones. Respondent C(e). In essence, respondents were asked to comment on Challenges and barriers that face women’s political participation, Respondent A (e) added, Respondent A(m) claimed, “proactive gender equality policy in parliament which results in a high number of female polit icians” Citizens were asked to comment on Challenges and barriers that face women’s polit ical participation, answers varied but within the same context, some of the cit izens commented on the Male Pressure in the society as respondent B(e) added, “we always follow men in voting we take it as family decision, we usually vote for the same candidate” Respondent C(m) supported, “it ’s not like they force us to vote but eventually we vote for the same candidate” www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 38 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Also, Respondent E(e) claimed, “Use Peer Pressure Telling others about your voting plan can also remind them to vote, ask your friends what their voting plan is when and where they will vote. Then follow up and ask if they kept to it, social pressure is mighty persuasive” (v) Most effective medium employed in political media campaigns The last section consisted of question regarding the most effective medium employed in politica l campaigns and whether this medium is appealing to females or not. When respondents were asked regarding the most employed medium in political campaigns, noticeably of the 20 (n=100%) face-to-face interviewees and the four focus groups, all agreed that social media is the most used and most effective as respondent C(e) stating, “since the 2011 revolution social media became a weapon that collapsed the old regime” Moreover, respondents were asked to state which social medium precisely is the most used. The answer varied among participants, almost 10 (n=50%) conformed that Facebook is mostly used, the other n=50% agreed that twitter is the used and most suitable medium in political campaigns. As respondent F(e) purported: “I guess its Facebook mostly used but not as much credible as twitter” When participants were asked to state where the medium is appealing to females n=100% agreed that yes Facebook is used friendly and used by almost all females with all levels in the society, so they have access for information and updated by all political news. Finally, respondent G(m) stated: “Facebook is the most used medium for entertainment and news as well for males and females” 6. Conclusion This paper set out to exp lore the news availability and its impact on female voting behaviour in Egypt’s capital Cairo and Morocco’s capital Rabat political elections. To address this, five main areas were discussed from cit izens perspectives. Through the qualitative methods, it’s been found that the media impact in Egypt and Morocco is quite huge. It is quite clear that the media p layed an important role in these countries, especially Egypt as throughout the interviews and focus groups the citizens mentioned how powerfu l the media was during the revolution, adding that the fo rmer president Hosni Mubarak was required to resign after 18 days of strikes and social arrest. Media p layed the role of engaging and organizing the protests. Moreover, it was a major element in building the movement. Cit izens did also mention that the role of media in entertaining is more powerful than the polit ical one, especially in Morocco. The cit izens in Morocco confirmed that media is an important element in their daily lives, but the news or ‘political news’ is not that powerful and it is not of a strong impact, interestingly they are happy with what is being aired or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 39 Published by SCHOLINK INC. published. In addition, when talking about the female role in society both in Morocco and Egypt equalized the ro le of female with the males, mentioning that they have the s ame rights and eventually the same political rights. But, surprisingly, they added that of course they face some obstacles and barriers in the society that might prevent in polit ical part icipation some of them is the male p ressure. On the other hand, they added that they do participate and they do convince their peers to participate as well. Furthermore, they mentioned that when females are elected it a kind of a motive that might lead them to participate. The news was an interesting part in the analysis. First both countries conformed that the newspapers are not durable nowadays, and the informat ion they get is from the dig ital news. However, they mentioned minimal influence by the availab le polit ical news. As the in fluence is not apparent and does not change anything. In addition to, the Female electorates perception of the available news, Egyptian citizens confirmed that they were not convinced that the news (available news) convince females to vote, as they felt that the available newspapers and news websites is of less credibility. In their defense, that most of political news during election will, of course, support the candidates and its kind of updates of what is going on in the country rather than informat ion regarding the candidates. On the other hand, Moroccan citizens confirmed that the available news is credible and it does convince females to vote, as they said it convince both males and females. The question is, so the news does not influence Moroccans, but it does convince them to vote? They also added that they go for news available on social media such as twitter and Facebook. Unexpectedly, they said that Facebook is not that credible, but it’s the most used medium, along with twitter especially in polit ical news. Also, they mentioned that Facebook is appealing and easy to use, as of course each candidate always makes sure to establish a communicat ion channel which is usually through Facebook or twitter with cit izens. This research revealed the important trends that need to be addressed by the news to avoid the decline in the distrust of the voters. At the same time, it focused exclusively on the views and comments by electorates from two countries which represents only one-sided view of the picture. To deeply understand the phenomena of trust and trust breach between political candidates and voters, voters should be brought on the board and their views should be compiled. A very important future research direction is based on the identification o f reasons and factors contributing in the voter’s decision, is the analysis of news content. This will help the political candidates as well as polit ical parties to utilize the research findings to strengthen the relationship with their voters based on trust. It is important to understand that political success is not always defined and determined by the same factors, and that the needs and expectations of the electorate might vary from one country to another. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm Communication, Society and Media Vol. 3, No. 1, 2020 40 Published by SCHOLINK INC. References Al-Natour, M. (2012). The Role of Women in the Egyptian 25th January Revolution. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 13(5), 59-76. Alam, I. 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