As a social space that enables new rituals of engagement, blogging may be most analogous to the rise of the coffeehouse during the Ottoman period, argues historian Brian Ulrich.

Is the Egyptian government using new Salafi stations to counter the more politically active Muslim Brotherhood? Nathan Field and Ahmed Hamam on the growing popularity of ultra-conservative religious programming.

Funded by Saudi investors, the Islamic music video network 4Shbab is the latest project of Ahmed Abu Haiba, former producer for the Amr Khaled series Kalam min al-Qalb. Video segment prepared by Ismail Elmokadem along with three video clips currently on air.

In February 2009, the popular Libyan Berber website Tawalt shut down under government pressure. Does this spell the end of nascent efforts to promote Berber language and culture online? Aisha al-Rumi investigates.

The Yemeni government’s refusal to let journalists and foreign observers into the Sa‘ada governorate has helped prolong and intensify the stop-go fighting that has plagued Yemen’s mountainous north since 2004, argues Maysaa Shuja al-Deen.

Although the book is poorly rendered into English, Gertz and Khleifi offer an insightful look into Palestinian film and draw an important link between art and politics in Palestinian society, says Sonia Rosen.

The strikes in Egypt held on 6 April 2008 had mixed results – but you wouldn’t know that from reading the country’s main papers. Aaron Reese analyzes how the Egyptian press framed coverage for and against the protesters.

The newest Persian language satellite network made a splash in the Iranian blogosphere when it began broadcasting in January. But just how far can the BBC go in the face of hostility from Tehran and without local bureaus, asks Contributing Editor Paul Cochrane.

While somewhat limited in locating middle class youth within Iranian society, Varzi’s brilliant work interrogates the relationship between ethnography and processes of fictionalization, writes Jennifer Riggan.

This volume is a welcome start to the long-overdue project of challenging stereotypes of the Gulf as a backward, tribal culture that has been overwhelmed by global cosmopolitanism, argues Reviews Editor Samer Abboud.