In light of the changes taking place in the United States, Arab Media & Society asked Dr. Sahar Khamis her thoughts on how the Arab and Muslim communities in the US have been affected. 1) What was the most notable effect of Trump’s policies on the Muslim community in the …
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 »BOOK REVIEW | War, Media and Propaganda: A Global Perspective
Reviewed by Rasha El Ibiary, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne Kamalipour, Yahya R. and Snow, Nancy (eds.) War, Media and Propaganda: A Global Perspective. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2004. Paperback. 280 pages. ISBN: 0-7425-3562-2. $27.95. Yahya Kamalipour and Nancy Snow's anthology "War, Media and Propaganda" sheds light …
Read More »Arab Satellite Broadcasting and the State: Who Curbs Whom, Why and How?
Edited transcript of a contribution to the Cambridge Arab Media Project conference on The Media and Political Change in the Arab World, 28-30 September, 2004 I plan to start this talk with a few theoretical observations about states and broadcasters before going on to discuss the mechanics of whether one …
Read More »Losing the Battle for Arab Hearts and Minds
(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and in no way reflect those of the UK Ministry of Defence.) Militarily, there was never any doubt that the US-led Coalition would prevail over Saddam's forces in March and April 2003. However, there was much more …
Read More »US Public Diplomacy: Targeting the Ruled or the Rulers?
It seemed a mere coincidence that only two days after the airing of the CBS 60 Minutes on Abu Gharaib prison torture April 26, 2004, Margaret Tutweiler, the US undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, resigned to take a position in the New York Stock Exchange. Ms. Tutweiler's resignation was as low-key …
Read More »Alhurra is at the Heart of the War of Ideas
Debate and discussion are at the cornerstone of any democracy. There have been many changes throughout the Middle East in the past year with the elections in Iraq, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the demonstrations in Lebanon and the Mubarak Initiative. As the political landscape of the Middle …
Read More »Washington vs. Al Jazeera: Competing Constructions of Middle East Realities
Abstract US government officials and supporters of the Bush Administration's policies in the Middle East have waged a sustained campaign against the Al Jazeera Arabic satellite channel. Al Jazeera has also been widely noticed, and criticized, in the (non-governmental) public debate on Middle East issues. It has become so notorious …
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