BBC Monitoring Text of report in English by Dubai newspaper Gulf News website on 18 May     An Arab human rights activist has called on Qatari media to start a public debate on press freedom that would push the authorities to amend the existing press law, which he deemed as unconstitutional. …

BBC Monitoring Text of press release by Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) on 18 May     The bodies of two Iraqi journalists employed by the US television network ABC, cameraman Al'a al-Din Aziz and soundman Sa'if Layth Yusuf, were found today in Baghdad's Yarmuk hospital. They had been kidnapped by …

WTVG-- May 17, 2007 - Al Jazeera is one of the most popular networks in the globe, but you can only see it in a few American cities, including Toledo. Viewers from around the world can question newsmakers, and so can you, if you subscribe to Buckeye Cable's digital service. …

Lina Khatib laments the fact that “the number of studies on the way the Middle East represents itself cinematically � is infinitesimal.” Yet because Khatib does not pursue this much-needed study herself in a field where there are already a number of survey-type works, she misses a valuable opportunity to engage with the Arab cinema on a deeper level of analysis, argues Refqa Abu-Remaileh.

Without a critical cultural examination of the multiple sides of the “Arabic” and “Arab” media terrain, the fervent attachment to the production of taxonomies to describe this terrain at a time of exponential transformation may provide little more than lines in the sand, claims Editorial Board Member Adel Iskandar.

The methodological shortcomings and scarce editing make this book a frustrating read. The lessons to be taken from this book regard the challenges facing Arab media studies as much as those facing Arab media, argues Contributing Editor Sune Haugbolle.

Readers of American Encounters will be heartened by the reminder that — regardless of the administration or specific policy — there remain elements in the U.S. foreign policy establishment dedicated to engaging with Arab audiences and keeping avenues of communication open, argues Will Ward.

With Riverbend’s blog, no longer is the reader limited to news reports from major networks or White House press conferences: the blog phenomena and particularly that of Riverbend and her blogging peers represents an uncensored real-time account of war, politics, and the perils of neo-imperialism, says Alexandra Izabela Jerome.

President of the Egyptian Television Network Suzan Hasan revealed to “Al Safeer” (The Ambassador) magazine that celebrity Egyptian singer Amr Diab will be presenting a new weekly program titled “Al Awal” (The First). Read the full article at Al Bawaba.

BBC Monitoring Text of report by London-based newspaper Al-Hayat on 17 May     [Report by Mu'awiyah Yasin in Riyadh: "Saudi Radio Station Joins ' Open Councils' in addressing people's grievances."]     Since the era of Saudi Arabia founder, King Abd-al-Aziz Bin-Abd-al-Rahman Al Sa'ud, the Saudi people with grievances have always resorted to …