Issue 40, Summer/Fall 2025 on "Media and Geopolitics in the Arab World”

The Arab world today stands at the intersection of shifting global alliances, prolonged conflicts, and the rise of new powers competing for influence across the Middle East. Media plays a pivotal role in this environment, not only as a mirror reflecting events but also as an active participant shaping narratives, identities, and public opinion. The coverage of wars and conflicts, the construction of national and regional soft power, and the increasingly blurred lines between journalism, strategic communication, and digital activism underscore the centrality of media in contemporary geopolitics.

Traditional and new media platforms are being mobilized in different ways: to wage information wars, to brand nations in global markets, to influence foreign policy debates, and to create alternative narratives that challenge dominant Western perspectives. At the same time, transformations in media ownership, the rise of AI-driven technologies, and the expanding role of transnational digital platforms are reshaping how politics is communicated and contested across the region.

For its 40th issue, Arab Media & Society invites scholars, researchers, and practitioners to submit contributions that critically interrogate the nexus between media and geopolitics in the Arab world. We welcome theoretically informed and empirically grounded research that sheds light on how media institutions, journalists, communicators, and audiences engage with, resist, or reproduce geopolitical agendas.

Key Themes:

Submissions may explore, but are not limited to, the following areas:

1.   War, Conflict, and Crisis Coverage

• Media framing of ongoing conflicts in Palestine, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and Syria.
• The politics of visibility and invisibility in reporting war casualties, refugees, and humanitarian crises.
• The use of disinformation, propaganda, and psychological operations in digital and broadcast media.
• AI and algorithmic mediation of war coverage: from drone footage to automated verification.

2.    Soft Power and Nation Branding

• Competition among Arab states in projecting global soft power through media, cultural industries, and sports.
• The use of mega-events (World Cup, Expo, film festivals) as tools of geopolitical communication.
• Strategic employment of influencers, YouTubers, and content creators in diplomacy and branding.
• The role of Arabic-language global networks (Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Sky News Arabia) in shaping international

3.    Shifting Media Ownership and Power Structures

• Privatization and consolidation of Arab media
• The role of sovereign wealth funds, multinational corporations, and foreign investment in Arab
• Cross-border media influence and the geopolitics of satellite
• Global technology platforms (Meta, X, TikTok, YouTube) as new geopolitical actors in Arab media ecosystems.

4.    New Forms of Communicating Politics

• Digital activism and the reconfiguration of political participation in the Arab world.
• Online censorship, surveillance, and digital
• Diaspora and exiled media’s role in reshaping Arab
• The aesthetics of resistance: memes, short videos, and digital humor as political communication.

5.    Emerging and Cross-Cutting Themes

• Climate change, environmental diplomacy, and media representations in the Arab region.
• Migration, borders, and the geopolitics of Arab media
• Gender and geopolitics: women journalists, feminized narratives of conflict, and representation of gendered violence.
• AI, cyber warfare, and the weaponization of digital
• Religious media, sectarian narratives, and their geopolitical implications.
• The Arab-Israeli conflict in contemporary media ecologies and its global resonances.

The above list is a non-exhaustive set for suggested areas of research. We welcome contributions that explore other dimensions related to media and geopolitics in the Arab region.

Submission Guidelines:

All submissions must be in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx), adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style, and have a maximum length of 10,000 words (including footnotes and citations).

Please include the author's name (as it should be published), their affiliation, and a brief abstract of no more than 150 words.

Deadline for Full Papers:

December 1, 2025 for peer-reviewed submissions and December 15, 2025 for all other submissions.

Please email all submissions to: editor@arabmediasociety.com. For further information regarding our publishing policies, kindly visit: www.arabmediasociety.com/publishing-policies/

Contact Information:

For any inquiries regarding the call for papers, please contact: editor@arabmediasociety.com. Thank you for your interest and support of Arab Media & Society. We look forward to your contributions to this timely and important issue.