The famous Arab news network Al Jazeera has been considered one of the most important de facto “Arab political parties.” Since most Arab countries have not yet established functioning democracies, relevant institutions, such as political parties and a parliamentarian opposition, are still rudimentary. To many observers, Arab satellite television seems to have …
Read More »The Rise and Potential Fall of Pan-Arab Satellite TV
Inexpensive analogue satellite TV gear introduced to the Arab world during the 1990s, and the even cheaper digital TV satellite technologies that have followed since the beginning of this decade, have been instrumental in short-circuiting a number of stages in the evolution of the TV distribution landscape in the Arab …
Read More »Al Jazeera Update: More Datelines from Doha and a Code of Ethics
In a fast-changing world, easy observations remain in consciousness long after they have become invalid. So it is with the conceit that Al Jazeera put Qatar on the map and not visa versa, or the variant that Al Jazeera is more important as a regional power than the State of …
Read More »Balancing Act: UAE Satellite TV Channels Between National and Pan-Arab Markets
With a GDP of $81 billion in 2003, up 4.5 percent from the previous year, and an 8.7 percent population growth rate that brought the population to more than four million in 2003, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have all the economic and business ingredients for the most dynamic Arab …
Read More »Thoughts on Arab Satellite Television, Pan-Arabism, and Freedom of Expression
Cambridge Arab Media Project: The Media and Political Change in the Arab World, 29-30 September 2004 Good morning everybody. Let me start by expressing my gratitude at being invited to this event and also for the very strong start that we had last night, which makes my job easier this …
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