Reviewing the role of new media in the Arab uprisings, Wiebke Lamer considers both its potential and its limitations in undermining authoritarian regimes. She concludes that over the long term, new media’s greatest impact may be in strengthening civil society and facilitating non-state actors.
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Western Reporting in the Middle East: The Dilemma of Local Arab Reportersd
Salah Al-Nasrawi reflects on the hiring practices and work conditions of native Arab reporters employed by international media organizations with offices in the Middle East. He exposes an unregulated and often inequitable environment that stifles the development of local Arab journalism and he calls for a public debate on the issue.
Read More »Private Satellite Channels in Egypt: The Relationship between Ownership and Editorial Policy
Television producer Mohamed Nasser calls Egypt’s privately owned satellite channels a threat to the goals of the revolution and little better than their state-owned counterparts. He proposes a series of reforms, including legislation to separate ownership and management.
Read More »Repetition and Ideology in Nasrallah’s Political Speeches
El Mustapha Lahlali examines the ideological function of lexical repetition in two political speeches of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, illustrating the ways that Nasrallah employs this rhetorical device to further his ideological agenda and political strategies.
Read More »Al Jazeera Television: Rhetoric of Deflection
Mahmoud R. Al-Sadi analyzes the “anti-establishment” discourse of Al Jazeera host Faisal al-Qasim, revealing a complex rhetorical style that deflects Arab radicalism, nudges viewers towards the pragmatism of Qatar’s foreign policy, and thus serves to reinvent Arab autocracy.
Read More »Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the Social Media Moment
Nadav Samin looks at the uprising in Egypt from the perspective of Saudi Arabia where an online attempt to initiate nationwide protest in March 2011 met with disinterest from a sector of the digital community. An assessment of social media’s role in the regional uprisings, he argues, must not overlook its ability to reinforce and amplify conservativism in some contexts.
Read More »The Scene of the Crime: October 9th, Maspero, and Egyptian Journalism after the Revolution
In a piece of literary reportage, Maurice Chammah explores media coverage of the violence at Egypt’s state-television headquarters on October 9, 2011, illustrating the growing gap between state-owned and independent media and raising concerns about the blurring line between independent journalists and activists in post-revolution Egypt.
Read More »Civil Society and Web 2.0 Technology: Social Media in Bahrain
Magdalena Maria Karolak looks at the output of Bahraini bloggers and concludes that although the bloggers initially contributed to civil society activism, the polarization of Bahrain society has since penetrated the blogosphere itself.
Read More »The Narrative of Resistance – Bahrain and Iraq
Anne Hagood looks at the political narratives adopted by Iraqi Shi'ites sympathetic to the cause of their fellow Shi'ites in Bahrain and specifically at the parallels Iraqis have drawn between the conflict in Bahrain and their own conflict against the Baathist regime overthrown in 2003.
Read More »Hip Hop & Diaspora: Connecting the Arab Spring
Dr Lara N. Dotson-Renta examines the activities of cross-cultural hip-hoppers and rappers inspired by the Arab uprisings and how they have strengthened the ties between diaspora Arabs and those who continue to live in the region.
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