BBC Monitoring Analysis by Amani Soliman of BBC Monitoring on 16 May     The "gap" between pan-Arab and Western media in reporting on key Middle East issues such as Iraq and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was closely scrutinized at a conference in London this week.     Arab and Western journalists working in media …

BBC Monitoring At 0328 gmt, Gaza Palestine Satellite Channel in Arabic interrupts its regular broadcasting to announce that Hamas militants are "at this time" storming the house of General Rashid Abu-Shibak, Palestinian Internal Security director, at Tall al-Hawa. The anchorman entitles the incident "a flagrant and clear breach of the …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on 15 May     The Foreign Ministry is launching an information campaign on the internet's largest shared-video website, YouTube. Thousands of anti-Israel films and reactions have been uploaded on that website, claiming that the IDF [Israel Defense Force] is slaughtering the Palestinian …

It is perhaps ironic that the man who controlled the broadcast of his image with an iron grip was executed in one of the most widely watched news events of recent times, says Vivian Salama.

It was not clear whether the ultimate point of the conference was to support Arab journalists in their struggle for protected freedoms, or to promote Siniora’s government?then under heavy fire?as democratic and free before a would-be sympathetic international audience, claims Abigail Hauslohner.

Do Arab newspapers say one thing in Arabic and another in English? Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy thinks so. She was a columnist for the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq Alawsat until she was abruptly dropped last year. One reason may have been her complaints about how her articles were being edited for the Arabic edition. We have here retranslated the edited Arabic version back into English. Be sure to compare it with the original, which we also publish.

Do Arab newspapers say one thing in Arabic and another in English? Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy thinks so. She was a columnist for the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq Alawsat until she was abruptly dropped last year. One reason may have been her complaints about how her articles were being edited for the Arabic edition. Here's your chance to read one of her original op-eds alongside the edited version.

Marc Lynch traces the political impact of blogging in the Middle East arguing that Arab blogs have begun to exert real leverage meriting serious attention.

In this edited version of the 11th Templeton Lecture on Religion and World Affairs, Abdallah Schleifer looks at the development of journalism in the Arab-Islamic World, attempting to explain factors shaping journalism practice in the region.

During the Hizbullah-Israel War, blogs provided alternative on-the-ground accounts of events, says Sune Haugbolle. But can they challenge the social authority of old media?