On the evening of Monday, August 11, 2003, two spontaneous riots erupted in Beirut. They occurred around the same time and were triggered by the same event. About an hour earlier, Future TV had announced voting results after the semi-final of its flagship program, Superstar, the Arabic version of Pop Idol (UK) …

Ramadan television in the Arab world is a showcase for “family values” as production companies and advertisers make huge efforts to attract millions of viewers gathered for the post-Iftar time slots. Inevitably, controversies arise. Complaints come from both producers and viewers, either condemning the broadcast of glitzy vaudeville programs starring …

“If you would swim on the bosom of the ocean of Truth, you must reduce yourself to a zero.” -- Mahatma Gandhi When twelve cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad were published in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005, few foresaw the violent backlash that transpired as a result of their …

Soad Saleh, one of the world’s leading female scholars of Islam, fields requests for religious advice each week from callers across the Arab world. Seated at a gilded table on the set of her Egyptian satellite TV show, Women’s Fatwa, Saleh provides religious rulings on a wide range of subjects. How …

A new Islamic television channel Al Resalah (The Message) launched in March 2006 amid a buzz of speculation about whether the station, billed as the first-ever moderate Islamic entertainment channel, would be able to offer a sufficiently appealing product (Islam-friendly comedies, talk shows, reality TV, music videos and game shows) to attract …

Within the larger debate over the American-led war in Iraq, the question of the media and its coverage of the war has often been as contentious as the war itself. Major Amy Connelly is the commander of the US Army’s 204th Public Affairs Detachment. From January 2004 until February 2005, Major Connelly …

For anyone who has followed the Iraq War on television, Brigadier General Mark T. Kimmitt has to be one of the most recognizable spokespersons for the American military. General Kimmitt, who served in the high-profile position as chief military spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, is now the deputy director …

The war in Iraq has taken a grisly toll on journalists. Reporters Without Borders has called it the deadliest conflict for journalists since World War II. For Pan-Arab news network Al Arabiya, the violence has hit home, killing at least 11 of its staff in Iraq and severely limiting the …

A number of war-themed reality shows have become enormous hits in Iraq since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime and the subsequent proliferation of satellite channels throughout the country. State-run Al Iraqiya has a hit on its hands with the controversial Terror in the Hands of Justicein which captive insurgents confess …

The media landscape in Iraq has undergone a radical transformation since state-run Iraqi television abruptly went off air following the US-led invasion in March 2003. With no state television and the ownership of satellite dishes banned by the Baathist regime, Iraqis were, quite literally, starved for information. As a result, …