Contributing Editor Paul Cochrane looks at the historical origins and current techniques of Saudi influence on the Arabic media landscape.

Enough already with the 'media dialogues' between Arab and Western journalists. The fortunes spent on these conferences could be put to much better use in cooperative lessons-learned networks and long-term training programs, argues Publisher and Co-Editor Lawrence Pintak.

October 2007. Speaking to Arab Media & Society’s George Weyman in July 2007, Sue Phillips, London bureau chief for Al Jazeera International, reflects on the network’s first year and the changes and challenges that lie ahead.

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.

Mustafa Kabha’s work falls well short of its considerable promise to chart the influence of Arabic news media on the evolution of the Palestinian National Movement in the tumultuous years that culminated in the Revolt of 1936-39, argues Aaron Jakes in his review of The Palestinian Press as Shaper of Public Opinion, 1929-1939: Writing Up a Storm.

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 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 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 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 By Saeed Barzin of BBC Monitoring on 24 September The Iranian government has shut down an internet news outlet known for its harsh criticism of President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad, and critics say the move will put pressure on the country's loyal opposition in the next parliamentary Majlis elections. "After …