October, 2007. In a segment by George Weyman, the BBC’s World’s media correspondent Sebastian Usher discusses the Alan Johnston kidnapping in Gaza and the dynamics of journalist kidnappings in the world today.

George Weyman gives an in-depth look at the popular Egyptian blog Two Pairs of Eyes, and argues that its bloggers seek to re-formulate but not reject dominant social values.

When is a joke in Lebanon not funny anymore? When it mocks Hassan Nasrallah and stokes highly tense sectarian sentiments, demonstrates Contributing Editor Sune Haugbolle. (Features Video)

Andrew Hammond looks at the structures of Saudi Arabia’s media influence and the formal and informal pressures it can bring to bear on media outlets to secure their desired coverage.

Dubai is fast becoming a global media hub – but for whom? Dana El-Baltaji examines Dubai’s business-friendly media model and its implications for the future of media in the Emirates.

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Syrian newspaper Al-Ba'th website on 27 September [Report by Tafid Abu-al-Khayr in Damascus: "Workshop at Al-Ba'th House on the Role of Media in Enhancing the Culture of Resistance."] The Role of the Media in Enhancing the Culture of Resistance was the title of the …

BBC Monitoring Text of report in English by Egyptian news agency MENA New York, 26 September: The latest White House statement on press freedom and civil society in Egypt is an "unacceptable interference in Egypt's domestic affairs," an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said late Tuesday [25 September]. The US statement …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Muslim Brotherhood website Ikhwanonline on 25 September The Al-Duqqi criminal court [in Cairo] has issued a sentence imprisoning for two years the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Al-Wafd, Ali Anwar al-Huwwari, and two journalists at the newspaper after indictment on charges of slandering and insulting …

BBC Monitoring In the days leading up to Ahmadinezhad's speech at Columbia University (delivered on 24 September), Iranian radio and TV made many references to Ahmadinezhad's planned appearance at the university, presenting it as a sign of great US public interest in Ahmadinezhad to the dismay of US officials. But, …

BBC Monitoring Text of report in English by Egyptian news agency MENA Cairo, 24 September: The Council of the Syndicate of Journalists called on the crisis committee it formed recently to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday [26 September] to tackle measures to be adopted after a court issued a …