The Egyptian pan-Arab television sector is enigmatic in more ways than one. Observers of the Egyptian media know very well that, at heart, it is profoundly more pan-Arab than any other Arab media area. Its pan-Arab reach, however, does not tally with its expectations and, consequently, its market share of …
Read More »Research Articles
The Role of Media in Defining Arab Culture—AUSACE’s 2002 Beirut Conference
"How are the modern media affecting Arab identity? And how is globalization affecting our culture?" These were among the questions posed by Dr. Ramez Maaluf, Director of the Beirut Institute for Media (BIMA), in his remarks at the opening of the seventh annual conference of the Arab-US Association for Communication …
Read More »The Minotaur of ‘Contextual Objectivity’: War coverage and the pursuit of accuracy with appeal
The pursuit of objective coverage has always been a cornerstone of the ideals of journalistic endeavor. Schools of journalism have consistently enshrined and standardized objectivity as the prime responsibility of a responsible reporter. Scholars in mass communication have also grappled with this concept for decades, articulating it in multiple contexts …
Read More »A Smaller Mediterranean? Satellite TV Channels and the Arab Community in Italy
From land of emigrants to new Eldorado There won't be streets lit up for the festivity. There won't be lanterns or local cakes or the traffic that precedes most iftars (meals taken at sunset to break the fast). But in Mazara del Vallo, the small Sicilian town that is now …
Read More »New Guys on the Block: Al-Majd 2 and Khalifa TV
If one believed that the region was drifting to polarization, which TBS is in no way suggesting, then the simultaneous entry of Al-Majd 2 and Khalifa TV would make a good argument for such a case. Names are deceiving. Khalifa TV does not take theirs from any aspiration to revive …
Read More »ZenTV Reaches Out to Arab Youth
Just a few seconds before going on air, 26-year-old Cat-Ramsey Fayad scurried to the edge of the stage at Zen TV's sprawling TV studio in Beirut, Lebanon and sank cross-legged before one of the roving cameras on the set of DardaChat. The show, set in a mythical loft somewhere in …
Read More »The Closing of Murr TV: Challenge or Corrective for Satellite Broadcasting in Lebanon?
Lebanon's satellite broadcasting industry has been seriously jolted, first by the government's closure in early September (2002) of Murr TV (LMTV, not to be confused with the international music channel MTV) and most recently (October 21, 2002) by the Lebanese High Court's denying the channel the right to appeal this …
Read More »El Mehwar The Mercurial
The possibility of the privatization or de-monopolization of television in Egypt has been much debated as the country makes steady steps towards a market economy. The year 2002 saw a more liberal government policy, enabling private ownership of satellite television stations and thus exhibiting a new tolerance and accommodation of …
Read More »Al Jazeera Under Fire Once Again: This Time The GCC Threatens Sanctions
The International Press Institute, a European-based global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, has rallied to Al Jazeera as the channel finds itself under attack from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which has warned it to stop "insulting and slandering" them or face a GCC call for a …
Read More »ANN: Satellite on a Shoestring
In 2000, ANN (Arab News Network) correspondent in Cairo Ahmed Ezz Eldin was eager to attend the Sharm El Sheikh Peace Summit but his management did not assign him to cover the story because of financial constraints. Despite this, says Ezz Eldin, he insisted on going and paid for the …
Read More »