Arab Media & Society

In the first survey of its kind, Mohammed el-Nawawy and Catherine Strong study job satisfaction among journalists working for Al-Arabiya TV. They explore how the channel’s Saudi ownership and coverage of the Arab uprisings shape perceptions of editorial freedom, job security and job satisfaction, pointing to a new understanding of journalism values among news workers at pan-Arab satellite channels.

Reviewing the role of new media in the Arab uprisings, Wiebke Lamer considers both its potential and its limitations in undermining authoritarian regimes. She concludes that over the long term, new media’s greatest impact may be in strengthening civil society and facilitating non-state actors.

Salah Al-Nasrawi reflects on the hiring practices and work conditions of native Arab reporters employed by international media organizations with offices in the Middle East.  He exposes an unregulated and often inequitable environment that stifles the development of local Arab journalism and he calls for a public debate on the issue.

Daoud Kuttab explores the resistance to community radio in the Arab world despite the opening up of media sectors following the Arab uprisings.  He calls on the region’s newly elected leaders to welcome the developmental potential of community-based radio and to create the necessary regulatory framework for radio broadcasting.

A month after the launch of Sky News Arabia, Arab Media and Society editorial board member S. Abdallah Schleifer talked to general manager Nart Bouran about his vision for the new channel, its ownership, the saturated field of pan-Arab television and the future of local television channels.

Rasha Allam reports on the efforts of Kamel Labidi, former head of the National Authority for the Reform of Media and Communication, to enact media reform in Tunisia. Two months after Labidi spoke about his work at the American University in Cairo (May 9, 2012), he and his commission resigned, citing a lack of political will for media reform and obstruction from the newly elected Ennahda-led government. 

Ramy Aly reviews and critiques this volume of articles edited by Tariq Sabry, calling it the most coherent attempt yet to “create a reflexive disciplinary self-consciousness” for the nascent field of Arab cultural studies.  The book’s strength, he writes, lies in its “unapologetic diagnosis of the weaknesses” of current Arab media, communication and literary studies and its proposals for a way out of this disciplinary impasse.