Daoud Kuttab explores the resistance to community radio in the Arab world despite the opening up of media sectors following the Arab uprisings. He calls on the region’s newly elected leaders to welcome the developmental potential of community-based radio and to create the necessary regulatory framework for radio broadcasting.
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A Proposal for a Dialogue on Media Reform
Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan calls for a society-wide dialogue to discuss the reform of both state and privately owned media, including a ban on individuals owning more than 10 percent of a media outlet.
Read More »Technology Cannot a Revolution Make: Nas-book not Facebook
Nabil Dajani urges the academic community not to lose sight of traditional and folk media in assessing the role of digital technology in the Arab uprisings, warning that over-reliance on new media platforms to explain the events of 2011 has already led to a failure to understand and anticipate the course of change in the region.
Read More »Crunching the Numbers, Breaking the News
Alaa Shahine reviews the state of financial reporting in the Middle East and finds that below the radar screen it has seen some rapid changes as individuals turn to investing
Read More »Commentary – the move away from big pan-Arab channels
Mourad Haroutunian shares his thoughts on the many reasons why Arab audiences have being moving away from the big pan-Arab news channels towards nation-based television channels, especially those offering sports, movies and other forms of entertainment.
Read More »Commentary – censorship and the Arab Media Forum in Bahrain
Sheyma Buali, after attending the annual Arab Media Forum in Bahrain, comments on the elephant in the room that many participants were reluctant to address
Read More »Obama’s Egyptian report card: His first 100 days and the Cairo speech
U.S. President Barack Obama had vowed a new policy for the U.S. toward the Arab world. He vowed a new handshake from the White House. How did his fare in Cairo in his first days in office? Joseph Simons offers an analysis.
Read More »Media absent from Yemen’s forgotten war
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.
Read More »Social media and the Gaza conflict
More than ever before, governments and pressure groups sought to use social media like Facebook and YouTube to rally support during the Gaza conflict. Why did so many of these attempts fizzle? Managing Editor Will Ward investigates.
Read More »It’s a cultural thing
Being a business journalist has never been easy in the notoriously tight-lipped UAE. But will investors tolerate Dubai & Co’s culture of keeping quiet amid a global financial crisis, asks Contributing Editor Dana El-Baltaji.
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