Hafiz Al Mirazi is the Washington bureau chief of Al Jazeera and host of the channel's weekly program, From Washington, which spearheaded Al Jazeera's coverage of US elections in 2004. TBS's deputy managing editor Lindsay Wise interviewed Al Mirazi about Al Jazeera's strategy for covering the US presidential race and Arab media interest in …
Read More »Citizenship and Democracy: Participants Discuss Media and Civic Discourse
Ninth Annual AUSACE Conference, 18-21 November 2004, Cairo Building bridges and fortifying existing ones through co-operation and understanding between the US and the Arab World's communication experts is the best way to bridge any gaps created by the tragic events of 9/11 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. …
Read More »The Pressures of 24-Hour News
This article appeared originally in the guide to News Xchange 2004, Algarve, 18-19 November 2004 The twenty-first century terrorist fights with a Kalashnikov in one hand and a video camera in the other. Ten weeks ago, from the ruins of the Beslan School, a tape surfaced showing the hostages, pathetically huddled …
Read More »Made For Television Events
As news of kidnappings and beheadings flowed out of Iraq this summer, it was easy to assume that Iraq had fallen into a state of primordial chaos. The brutal forces of tribalism and barbarity appeared to be triumphing, and the modern appeared to be giving way to the medieval. Such …
Read More »The Best Hope for Democracy in the Arab World: a Crooning TV “Idol”?
It is a perfect summer evening in Damascus; a cool wind sweeps in from the desert, soothing scorched pavements and carrying the smells of strong coffee and cured meat from roadside stalls up into the clotheslines and concrete hulks of the Syrian skyline. Normally the city's streets would be packed …
Read More »Arab Satellite Coverage of US Elections
The US presidential election of 2004 attracted an unprecedented amount of international media attention, perhaps nowhere more so than in the Arab world, where the impact of American policy has made itself acutely felt in the three years since September 11. Concerns over the war in Iraq, combined with frustration …
Read More »Report on the 58th Annual Middle East Institute Conference: “The Use and Limits of Power in the Middle East”
Panel: "Media Diplomacy: Who Controls the Control Room?" National Press Club, Washington, D.C. 5-6 October 2004 By far the most lively panel during October's annual Middle East Institute (MEI) conference in Washington, D.C., was "Media Diplomacy: Who Controls the Control Room?" featuring interesting insights from independent filmmaker Jehane Noujaim and The …
Read More »On the Role of Media in the Current Transition Phase in Iraq
Cambridge Arab Media Project: The Media and Political Change in the Arab World, 29-30 September 2004 Iraq has suffered decades of war and brutal dictatorship which have left the country weak and exhausted. The situation in post-war Iraq is unstable, Iraqi civil society has been destroyed, and the economy is …
Read More »Arab Satellite Broadcasting: An Alternative to Political Parties?
Cambridge Arab Media Project: The Media and Political Change in the Arab World, 29-30 September 2004 Thinking about Arab Satellite Broadcasting (ASB), I soon realized that there is no theoretical base for it. Hannah Arendt, the great German political thinker, argued that theory is for weak brains-but I have Max …
Read More »Remarks in Response to Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Cambridge Arab Media Project: The Media and Political Change in the Arab World, 29-30 September 2004 Thank you very much. I am actually very proud to talk after Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who is one of those people who inspired our thoughts when we were students--political science students at Cairo …
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