In contemporary Syria, the TV industry’s centrality renders it a particularly revealing site of ethnographic endeavor. It provides a valuable point of access to a complex and rapidly changing society, argues Christa Salamandra.

House of Lords, London 9 March 2005 Next Steps The Arab International Media Forum (AIM), held a discussion on this topic in the House of Lords. This addressed how the Arab media cover the issues of freedom, women and economic diversification, building on earlier AIM workshops in Sharjah, which revised …

Since its inception, mass media in its various forms (newspapers, radio, television, etc.) has been used as both a tool of nation-states as well as a weapon against them. The power of the press to influence opinion and help interpret reality for its constituents has created conflict over what constitutes …

From its humble pre-satellite origins in 1991, al-Manar (The Beacon) has been a television station driven first and foremost by the priorities of the Islamic Resistance, the armed wing of Hizbullah. Since the end of the civil war and the signing of the Ta'if Accord, Hizbullah has undergone a transformation, …

Shortly after Algeria's presidential election last April, the Ministry of Communications abruptly ordered correspondents for Dubai-based broadcaster Al Arabiya and its rival, Al Jazeera, to suspend news operations in Algiers indefinitely. No convincing explanations were given, but Algerian officials had complained bitterly about Al Arabiya's election coverage and were apparently …

Abstract US government officials and supporters of the Bush Administration's policies in the Middle East have waged a sustained campaign against the Al Jazeera Arabic satellite channel. Al Jazeera has also been widely noticed, and criticized, in the (non-governmental) public debate on Middle East issues. It has become so notorious …

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 …

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 …

Cambridge Arab Media Project: The Media and Political Change in the Arab World, 29-30 September 2004 Good morning everybody. Let me start by expressing my gratitude at being invited to this event and also for the very strong start that we had last night, which makes my job easier this …

The United States Government's new Arabic-language satellite television channel claims to be bringing something new to the Arab world. The message is impossible to miss, as it is incessantly hyped in the clumsily cued station promos: If you look, you must surely see; a new horizon; a new window on the …