Blogging has intensified political trends first triggered by the birth of satellite television and an independent print press but does not mark a new departure for Egyptian politics, argues Tom Isherwood.

A Mickey Mouse lookalike character on Hamas’s al-Aqsa network generated a storm of controversy in Western media in 2007 – but were Palestinian kids actually tuning in? Yael Warshel surveys television viewing among Palestinian youth.

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.

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 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.

How can the Obama Administration rebuild American public diplomacy in the Arab World? Engaging with regional media, reforming BBG Arabic broadcasting and reducing the military role would be a good start, argues Ambassador William A. Rugh.

Bettina Graf gets behind the scenes at Islamonline.net, one of the world’s most popular Islamic websites, giving an in-depth look at how the site creates and issues fatwas.

In an age of homogenized reporting, bloggers on both sides of the Iraq war are filling the void of personal coverage and challenging the narratives of war planners and mainstream media alike. Wayne Hunt traces this phenomenon with two case studies.

Muhammad Gamal argues for more academic and professional attention to the audiovisual translation industry, which is proliferating everywhere from mobile phone screens to stadium megatrons.