August 4, 2016—On Monday, the Presidential Council of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) requested that the United States level airstrikes against ISIS holdings in the Libyan city Sirte. As ground offensive against the radical group continues, Libyans in power remain split on US intervention.
Read More »U.S. Media Ignores Civilian Deaths from Syrian Drone Strikes
July 21, 2016—Syrian activists estimate that U.S. airstrikes on Tuesday morning left at least 73 Syrian civilians dead.
Read More »The Debate Over Al Jazeera English in Burlington, VT.r
William Youmans analyzes the debate in Burlington, Vermont, over whether the local cable TV company should or should not carry Al Jazeera English. He concludes that Burlington was a special case, rather than the harbinger of a breakthrough into the US market for AJE.
Read More »Public Diplomacy 101: A Required Course for Karen Hughes
In her assignment as the communication director of George W. Bush’s presidential and gubernatorial campaigns, Karen Hughes maintained straight-A grades. In her first trip to the Middle East as undersecretary for public diplomacy in September, however, Mrs. Hughes’ GPA seems to have dropped to a C or even less, according …
Read More »Eulogy to Rebirth? US International Broadcasting Struggles to Find its Way—With the Help of Al Jazeera
It was a brief ceremony for the deceased. The eulogy was given by US Secretary of State Madeline Albright, on a brilliant Washington, DC morning, October 1, 1999. The assembled were reminded by Secretary Albright that this was a time to rejoice, and not to mourn, because the accomplishments of …
Read More »‘The Perfect War’: US Public Diplomacy and International Broadcasting During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, 1990/1991
In this article, Nicholas Cull reviews the performance of the United States Information Agency (USIA) during the Gulf Crisis and War of 1990-91. He concludes by contrasting the effective US use of public diplomacy during this period with the problems encountered following 9/11.
Read More »Al Jazeera: Once More into the Fray
DOHA -- There is no getting away from it. Al Jazeera continues to dominate the discourse, despite significantly improved competition (reflected in growing market share) from Al Arabiya and a step back over the past year from its past tendency to overly emotionalize, Fox TV-style, when framing the news. Nowhere …
Read More »Arab Satellite Coverage of US Elections
The US presidential election of 2004 attracted an unprecedented amount of international media attention, perhaps nowhere more so than in the Arab world, where the impact of American policy has made itself acutely felt in the three years since September 11. Concerns over the war in Iraq, combined with frustration …
Read More »On a Journey with Hamza Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf Hanson was born in Walla Walla, Washington, and raised in northern California. He became Muslim in 1977 in Santa Barbara, California and subsequently moved to the Middle East and studied Arabic and Islam for four years in the United Arab Emirates and later in Medina, Algeria, Morocco, and …
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