Fake News in Digital Cultures by Rob Cover, Ashleigh Haw, and Jay Daniel (2022), promises “a new approach to understanding disinformation and misinformation in contemporary digital communication.” Studying the digital world from a cultural perspective, the authors propose looking at fake news as a normal byproduct of ‘postmodern’ culture, using Raymond …
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Women’s Activisms and the Future of Feminist Movements in the Arab Region
On Tuesday, December 7th, 2021, Arab Media & Society hosted a virtual panel discussion titled “Arab Media Between Conflict & Peace.” Following the panel, Managing Editor Sarah El-Shaarawi spoke with panelist Dr. Sahar Khamis about her co-edited volume Arab Women’s Activism and Socio-Political Transformation: Unfinished Gendered Revolutions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). The …
Read More »Book Review | Routledge Handbook on Contemporary Egypt
Edited By Robert Springborg, Amr Adly, Anthony Gorman, Tamir Moustafa, Aisha Saad, Naomi Sakr, Sarah Smierciak This 465-page volume is divided into six main sections, each with a forward written by a sub-editor. Each section has four or five chapters all written by other separate authors for a total of …
Read More »Book Review | Routledge Handbook on Arab Media
First Edition - Edited By Noureddine Miladi, Noha Mellor (Routledge, 2020) The Routledge Handbook on Arab Media is an encyclopedic depiction of the history, roles, models of ownership, and regulations of print, broadcast, and online media in 20 Arab countries out of the 22 Arab countries represented in the Arab …
Read More »Information At War: Hamas vs. the IDF
Excerpted from Information at War: Journalism, Disinformation, and Modern Warfare To be published by Polity Books, summer 2021 The persistent conflict between Israel and Hamas only occasionally attracts much attention beyond its own region, but for the women, men, and children on the ground this is not a “small” war. …
Read More »90 Day Orientalism: The “Other” Way
The American network TLCs’ 90 Day Fiancé’s casting and storylines have provided its audience with years of entertainment, mostly at the foreign partner’s expense. The reality television industry has grown exponentially throughout the years, thriving on the drama between characters to gain viewership. However, reality television channels, such as Bravo …
Read More »BOOK REVIEW | America & Islam: Lawrence Pintak’s Holy Grail?
Award-winning journalist-cum-academic Lawrence (Larry) Pintak has been on a mission for years trying to explain Islam to Americans, with his latest volume nailing it in the age of hysterical xenophobia and white supremacy. The cover of America and Islam: Soundbites, Suicide Bombs and the Road to Donald Trump sets the …
Read More »Film Review | Watching “Us” in the Middle East
“Us,” Jordan Peele’s newly released horror film, raises questions about American identity that will appear very different to viewers outside the United States. Peele has claimed that “Us” aims to hold up a mirror to American society, showing “us” how “we are our worst enemies.” But for international viewers, especially …
Read More »Book Review | Preaching Islamic Renewal: Religious Authority and Media in Contemporary Egypt
The impacts of new media have long fascinated scholars of contemporary Muslim societies. Beginning from the premise that new media configurations portend the “fragmentation” of religious authority (Eickelman and Anderson 1999; Anderson 2003), such works often display a curious mix of euphoria and anxiety about the “democratizing” potential of new …
Read More »BOOK REVIEW | Young People and the Future of News: Social Media and the Rise of Connective Journalism
What do school reform, presidential elections, LGBTQ rights, globalization, police brutality, and a Boston casino have in common:? They have all been the impetus behind youth participating, communicating, and practicing forms of connective journalism in the United States. This, in brief, is the main argument Lynn Clark and Regina Marchi …
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