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Rasha Abdulla

  • Position: Professor
  • Department: Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
  • Email: [email protected]
Brief Biography

Rasha A. Abdulla is a Professor in the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at The American University in Cairo (AUC). She has previously served as chair of the department. 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. Abdulla is a former 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. She is also a member of the board of Global Voices and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) board of Article 19.

Abdulla's current research interests include the uses and effects of new media; media in transition; social media and mobilization; social media and the public sphere; and issues of 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 monographs, reports, book chapters, and research articles featured in top-tier international journals.

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 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 in national and international media. She tweets in English and Arabic on her Twitter profile. More information about Abdulla can be found on her Google Scholar page.

  • Abdulla, R. (2023). Social media, the public sphere, and public space in Egypt: A case study of Tahrir square and 18 years of user generated content. Social Media and Society, 9(1).
  • Abdulla, R. (2021). Tweeting the revolution: The Evolution of Social Media Use in Egypt’s turbulent times. In R. Springborg, A. Adly, A. Gorman, T. Moustafa, A. Saad, N. Sakr, & S. Smierciak (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Egypt. New York: Routledge.
  • Abdulla, R., Poell, T., Rieder, B., Woltering, R., & Zack, L. (2018). Facebook polls as proto-democratic instruments in the Egyptian revolution: The ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ Facebook page. Global Media and Communication, 14(1), 141-160.
  • Abdulla, R. (2017). How diverse are Egypt’s media: A look at the post-revolution presidential elections. Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies, 6(3), 507-525.
  • Abdulla, R., Poell, T., Rieder, B., Woltering, R., & Zack, L. (2018). Facebook polls as proto-democratic instruments in the Egyptian revolution: The ‘We Are All Khaled Said’ Facebook page. Global Media and Communication, 14(1), 141-160.
  •  Abdulla, R. (2017). How diverse are Egypt’s media: A look at the post-revolution presidential elections. Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies, 6(3), 507-525.
  • 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.
  • 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).  
  • 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.  
  • 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.  
  • 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.”)  
  • Abdulla, R. (2013). Mapping digital media: Egypt. New York: Open Society Foundation.   
  • Abdulla, R. (2013). A general look at media diversity in selected Egyptian newspapers (March-April 2013). London: Media Diversity Institute.  
  • 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.    
  • Abdulla, R. (2013). Media diversity during Egypt’s Constitutional referendum (November-December 2012). London: Media Diversity Institute.
  • 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. 
  • 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. 
  • 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. 
  • Abdulla, R. (2012). Media diversity during Egypt’s Parliamentary elections (November-December 2011). London: Media Diversity Institute.  
  • 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.  
  • Abdulla, R. (2011). The revolution will be tweeted. Cairo Review, 1(3).  
  • 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.   
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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)