Arab Media In The Information Age

The Arab media has been able to effect a qualitative and quantitative improvement in the past few years. Today, it is disseminating more information to a wider and growing audience. In fact, it has not only made its presence felt on the world stage but has even been able to influence the course of international events. This change has largely been brought about by Arab satellite news channels, Arab websites, and international Arabic newspapers. In spite of these achievements, the Arab media still suffers from several structural shortcomings, which it needs to immediately address and overcome. The book contributes towards promoting the cause of the Arab media, enrich its expertise and chart its future course. It seeks to diagnose the ills facing the Arab media; assess its orientation, content, and performance; study its social responsibilities and functions; evaluate the extent of its influence on Arab public opinion and its role in presenting Western views to the Arab world. The book also studies the experiences of the new Arab satellite channels. In addition, the book delves into certain contentious issues such as the independence and credibility of the media and the relationship of the press with commercial interests and political influence. It also covers a comparative study of the Western and Arab media and examines the role of the press in times of war, besides focusing on the growing role of the Internet in the Arab world. The book draws on the expertise and insight of a distinguished group of contributors, which consist of eminent media professionals, prominent researchers and academicians from the Arab world and beyond.

A collection of conference papers analyzing the Arab media's influence in shaping Arab public opinion and Western perspectives of the Arab world.

This volume provides a comparative analysis of media systems in the Arab world, based on criteria informed by the historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing a country’s media. Reaching beyond classical western media system typologies, Arab Media Systems brings together contributions from experts in the field of media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to provide valuable insights into the heterogeneity of this region’s media systems. It focuses on trends in government stances towards media, media ownership models, technological innovation, and the role of transnational mobility in shaping media structure and practices. Each chapter in the volume traces a specific country’s media – from Lebanon to Morocco – and assesses its media system in terms of historical roots, political and legal frameworks, media economy and ownership patterns, technology and infrastructure, and social factors (including diversity and equality in gender, age, ethnicities, religions, and languages). This book is a welcome contribution to the field of media studies, constituting the only edited collection in recent years to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of Arab media systems. As such, it will be of great use to students and scholars in media, journalism and communication studies, as well as political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists with an interest in the MENA region.

This volume explores the dialogue between Arab media and global developments in the information age, looking at the influence of new technologies in Arab societies and the evolving role of Arab women in ‘old’ and ‘new’ media. By gathering together contributions from both Arab and non-Arab scholars alike, a timely and important collection is presented that sheds new light on the growing involvement, role and image of Arab women in the media.

In recent years, the Middle East's information and communications landscape has changed dramatically. Increasingly, states, businesses, and citizens are capitalizing on the opportunities offered by new information technologies, the fast pace of digitization, and enhanced connectivity. These changes are far from turning Middle Eastern nations into network societies, but their impact is significant. The growing adoption of a wide variety of information technologies and new media platforms in everyday life has given rise to complex dynamics that beg for a better understanding. Digital Middle East sheds a critical light on continuing changes that are closely intertwined with the adoption of information and communication technologies in the region. Drawing on case studies from throughout the Middle East, the contributors explore how these digital transformations are playing out in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, exposing the various disjunctions and discordances that have marked the advent of the digital Middle East.

In recent years, the Middle East's information and communications landscape has changed dramatically. Increasingly, states, businesses, and citizens are capitalizing on the opportunities offered by new information technologies, the fast pace of digitization, and enhanced connectivity. These changes are far from turning Middle Eastern nations into network societies, but their impact is significant. The growing adoption of a wide variety of information technologies and new media platforms in everyday life has given rise to complex dynamics that beg for a better understanding. Digital Middle East sheds a critical light on continuing changes that are closely intertwined with the adoption of information and communication technologies in the region. Drawing on case studies from throughout the Middle East, the contributors explore how these digital transformations are playing out in the social, cultural, political, and economic spheres, exposing the various disjunctions and discordances that have marked the advent of the digital Middle East.

The New Arab Media: Technology, Image and Perception provides a valuable introduction and analysis of some of the most important issues surrounding the new media revolution in the Middle East. In particular, the book examines the two Janus-like faces of the new media in the Middle-East: its role in reflecting developments within the region, as well as its function in projecting the Arab world outside the Middle East. Now available in paperback, the contributions address various aspects of new media developments, each one highlighting an aspect of the complexity of the relationship between new media developments and Middle Eastern cultures. The topics examined include: the impact of Al-Jazeera * implementation of the internet in the region * the use of the media for diplomacy and propaganda * image culture * the use of the internet by religious diasporas * information and communication technologies and the Arab Public Sphere * the influence of satellite television on Arab public opinion * the explosion of local radio stations in Jordan.

This book provides a clear and authoritative introduction to the emerging Arab media industries in the context of globalization and its impacts, with a focus on publishing, press, broadcasting, cinema and new media. Through detailed discussions of the regulation and economics of these industries, the authors argue that the political, technological and cultural changes on the global media scene have resulted in the reorganization of the Arab media field. They provide striking examples of this through the particular effects on media policies, media technology and the content and genres developed for the new generation of media consumers. As part of the book's overview of the contemporary characteristics of Arab media, the authors outline the development of the role of modern Arab media from a tool of mobilizing the public to a tool of commercial and symbolic profit. Overall, the volume illustrates how the Arab region represents a unique case where the commercialization and liberalization of selected media industries has gone hand in hand with continuous state intervention and an increasing self censorship. Written for students without prior knowledge of the topic, Arab Media will be essential reading for all interested in the contemporary global media industries.