A vanguard of techies and activists used blogs to change the face of politics and journalism in Egypt. But once a small town, Egypt’s blogosphere now resembles a sprawling metropolis with a less clearly defined center, argues Courtney C. Radsch.

Facebook made a splash when it attracted 70,000 members to a group supporting an Egyptian general strike. But were these committed activists or fly by night fans? David Faris on the politics of social networking sites.

Side-by-side renderings of Arabic articles and their English translations make the book useful for students and researchers, yet crude generalizations and culturalist arguments deflect from Kedar’s analytical contributions, argues Book Review Editor Samer Abboud.

Drawing on Sakr’s deep and sophisticated industry expertise, the book is a must-read for anyone interested in the political economy of the Arab television industry, writes Youssef Masrieh.

Germany’s government spends over a quarter billion Euros a year on this satellite network aimed at stimulating intercultural dialogue. But does Deutsche Welle really connect with Arab viewers? Carola Richter investigates.

Unofficial translation of an alleged draft Egyptian media law published by Almasry Alyoum. It appeared on 9 July 2008 under the headline: “’Full text of AL-Fiki’s’ Bill, which the Government is preparing to present to the People’s Assembly in the new parliamentary session.”

Mideast Wire On May 8, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya.net news website carried the following report by Faraj Isma’il: “A source in An-Nas religious satellite channel, admitted that three senior clerics presenting shows on it stopped their shows following the recent appearance of young cleric Amr Khaled on its screen. The source …

Mideast Wire Al-Akhbar, an independent pro-opposition newspaper, wrote in its lead editorial on May 9: “Only a few hours after the secretary general of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ended his news conference, groups of fighters belonging to the opposition forces succeeded in taking control of the Future movement’s offices in …

It was only a matter of time before the world’s biggest name in the music and youth entertainment industry would tap into the consumer hungry, but conservative Middle East, writes Contributing Editor Dana El Baltaji

Instant Nationalism contains a wealth of material and a useful set of questions to be explored in further studies of transnational media in the Middle East and the shaping of regional public perception and political action, argues Becky Schulthies.