Lisa Reinisch investigates coverage of environmental issues by English-language newspapers in the United Arab Emirates and analyses what it tells us about the evolution of media-government relationships in the country.

David Faris looks at the role bloggers played in the campaign to enable Egypt's tiny Baha'i minority to obtain identity cards without identifying themselves as Muslims or Christians. He traces the links between a handful of Baha'i bloggers, a wider circle of sympathetic activist bloggers and some key people in the mainstream media. He concludes that the sustained online attention which the plight of Baha’is appears to have won in the end made it difficult for the Egyptian government to countenance the continued violation of Baha’i rights.

The Arab world's news duopoly is set for a shake-up, and the main contenders are two ventures that are connected to one of the world's biggest media organizations, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Beirut-based journalist Paul Cochrane looks at the latest developments.

Diana Turecek looks at the varied conclusions about the role of the United States that Arab media and commentators have drawn from the global financial crisis.

Stephen Marmura tries to explain the persistence of mistaken beliefs about 9/11 and about the rationale for invading Iraq among the US and Egyptian publics, concluding that memories and long-term discourses sometimes outweigh short-term media effects.

David A. Rousu argues that Iraq now qualifies as having a diverse media, despite some government ownership and occasional instances in which the authorities have used legal provisions against media organizations .

Ingrid Wassman reports on the effects the Internet, satellite television, and other cyber technologies are having on marriage, relationships, and gender interaction in Egypt’s traditionally conservative society

Leah Caldwell looks at the travails of Syrian cleric Abdul Rahman Kuki and what his trial means for what public figures in Syria can say, and what indeed they must say

Anne Hagood says that at least on the media front Iran and Saudi Arabia have been fighting a proxy war in northern Yemen, taking advantage of the Houthi rebellion to promote their political visions to the detriment of their geostrategic competitors.

Lorenza Fontana looks at how Hezbollah and Israel handled the media in the 2006 war