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 …

MEB Journal Egyptian actor Ezzat Abu Ouf will star in a new TV series "Omaret Yacoubian" (The Yaacoubian Building), which is scheduled to run during Ramadan. The drama will be based on the Story of Ala’a Al Aswani. Read full story at Good News For Me.

I hesitate to call myself a journalist. Technically, I am one, but I haven’t broken ‘news’ since the day I took up my position on Time Out in Dubai. Still, I take comfort in knowing that most journalists in the emirate are equally frustrated working in a media industry that ‘makes nice, not news,’ reports Dana El-Baltaji.

Although recent changes in information technology, especially the growth of satellite television, have had an impact on Arab media, making national borders more porous, existing national political systems are still a dominant variable affecting the structure and behavior of Arab media, argues Editorial Board Member William A. Rugh.

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.

BBC Monitoring Between 0500-1000 gmt on 19 May, Baghdad Al-Sharqiyah Television in Arabic is observed to carry the following reports on security and political developments in Iraq:     Within its 0500 gmt newscast, the channel carries the following reports:      - "During his Friday [18 May] sermon in Baghdad, Imam Harith …

BBC Monitoring Algerian newspapers today described the new parliament as lacking "credibility and legitimacy" as a result of the very low turnout, officially at 35.51 per cent of the registered voters, in the 17 May legislative elections.     Up to 18 million eligible voters from Algeria's 33 million people cast ballots …