Seib, P. (2017). As Terrorism Evolves: Media, Religion and Governance. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. USC journalism professor Philip Seib has done a great service for those who follow media-driven events connected with terrorism inspired by Middle East- and Africa-based terror groups that have, for many, become household names, such …
Read More »The Politics of Representation on Social Media: The Case of Hamas during the 2014 Israel–Gaza Conflict
Abstract Alongside the military confrontation that took place in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in July and August 2014, a battle in the media sector was also underway. This study focuses on the agenda of Hamas during different stages of the psychological war between the two sides involved, namely itself and …
Read More »Creative Insurgency and the Celebrity President: Politics and Popular Culture from the Arab Spring to the White House
Read an excerpt of Marwan Kraidy's latest book The Naked Blogger of Cairo here. On Tuesday, December 6, 2016, a strange sight appeared on Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Close to city hall, passersby saw a four-meter high gilded statue of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a suit, legs firmly planted …
Read More »The Birth and Death of 25TV: Innovation in Post-Revolution Egyptian TV News Formats
Abstract This case study highlights an experiment that aimed to disrupt traditional television news production and presentation models in post-revolution Egypt. It is a snapshot of a brief moment in Egyptian television history when an attempt was made at innovating news production and content, but much like the Egyptian revolution, …
Read More »Travelogue of the Israeli Protest: A Dialogue with Contemporary Street Poetry
Abstract The article deciphers the symbolic deconstruction of the Israeli Indignant Protest (2011–2012) on behalf of the local cultural simulacrum—based on Zionist narratives of Judaism. It presents, through the subjective eye of a participant observer, the symbolic paradigm by which the protest opened its way through street poetry’s contemporary representation, …
Read More »Stickers Against Libya’s Grand Mufti Provoke Social Media Ire
August 15, 2016—Activists expressed anger on social media today in response to stickers spread throughout Tripoli slandering Libya's Grand Mufti, Sheikh Sadiq al-Gharyani. The stickers appeared under the cover of dark late last night. Posts defending the Mufti flooded Facebook with the hashtag "Sheikh Sadiq Al-Gharyani represents me."
Read More »Syrian Children Hold Up Pokémon Pleading for People to Find Them
August 9, 2016—The Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office released an emotional photo series on social media today. The photo series aims to garner the attention of fans of the newest gaming craze, Pokémon Go.
Read More »Libya’s Ministry of Education Tries to Ban Social Media After Exams Leaked
July 18, 2016—Amidst a leaked exams crisis, Libya's Ministry of Education is seeking to block social media sites for the duration of the secondary school exams.
Read More »Coup Bid in Turkey Reported Live on Social Media Despite Blockages
July 16, 2016—Despite restricted access to social media sites, Turkey’s attempted military coup exploded across Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube late last night.
Read More »BOOK REVIEW | Visual Propaganda and Extremism in the Online Environment
Ronnie Close, an academic and assistant professor at the American University in Cairo, welcomes the volume into the discourse on visual content. He contextualizes the scholarly work by providing information on related fields, and he assesses the compilation's overall cohesion.
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