How to Create a Symbol: The Case of Bassem Youssef

Summary

The study explains how the phenomenon of the Egyptian TV presenter ‘Basem Youssef’ has shifted from a challenge to the status quo from outside the prevailing media and cultural system to full integration with the system. It shows how Egypt’s pro-regime cultural system managed to exploit this phenomenon to achieve its goals, and then got rid of it in the end. The study tracks the phenomenon of Bassem Youssef since he appeared in videos clips on YouTube in 2011 until the suspension of his program on ‘MBC Egypt’ in 2014, and his relationship with the prevailing media system which he was critical of at the beginning but later became part of it