Media In The Middle East

This edited volume offers the first extended, cross-disciplinary exploration of the cumulative problems and increasing importance of various forms of media in the Middle East. Leading scholars with expertise in Middle Eastern studies discuss their views and perceptions of the media’s influence on regional and global change. Focusing on aspects of economy, digital news, online businesses, gender-related issues, social media, and film, the contributors of this volume detail media’s role in political movements throughout the Middle East. The volume illustrates how the increase in Internet connections and mobile applications have resulted in an emergence of indispensable tools for information acquisition, dissemination, and activism.

This is the very first handbook to offer a comprehensive survey of mass media in 21 Middle Eastern countries. Knowledgeable Middle Eastern media experts unfold the little known but timely information about the region and compendiously discuss communication philosophies, newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, motion pictures, media regulations, ownership patterns, news agencies, new technologies, external media services, and the role of media in national development in 21 country chapters. In addition to providing information about domestic and international media services, broadcast programming (domestic and imported), and print media contents, each chapter integrates geographical, social, political, religious, and economic factors to enhance our understanding of each country's mass media structure. Undergraduate and graduate students, educators, researchers, journalists, international media consultants, and media specialists will find this premier handbook an invaluable resource.

The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the profound and complex changes shaping the 21st century. With trans-regional contributions from established and emerging scholars, this ground-breaking volume offers conceptual essays and in-depth chapters that present rich analyses grounded in historical and geopolitical contexts, as well as key theory and empirical research. Rather than viewing the Middle East as a monolithic culture, this Handbook examines the diverse and multi-local characteristics of the region’s knowledge production, dynamic media, and rich cultures. It addresses a wide range of topics, including the evolving mainstream and alternative media, competing histories in the region, and pressing socio-economic and media debates. Additionally, the Handbook explores the impact of regional and international politics on Middle Eastern cultures and media. Designed to serve as a foundation for the next era of research in the field, The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East is essential reading for all academics, scholars, and media practitioners. Its comprehensive scope makes it an excellent primary or supplementary textbook for undergraduate or graduate courses in global studies, media and communication, journalism, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, and history.

You are being lied to by people who don't even exist. Digital deception is the new face of information warfare. Social media has been weaponised by states and commercial entities alike, as bots and trolls proliferate and users are left to navigate an infodemic of fake news and disinformation. In the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East, where authoritarian regimes continue to innovate and adapt in the face of changing technology, online deception has reached new levels of audacity. From pro-Saudi entities that manipulate the tweets of the US president, to the activities of fake journalists and Western PR companies that whitewash human rights abuses, Marc Owen Jones' meticulous investigative research uncovers the full gamut of tactics used by Gulf regimes and their allies to deceive domestic and international audiences. In an age of global deception, this book charts the lengths bad actors will go to when seeking to impose their ideology and views on citizens around the 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.

In this thought-provoking volume, experts explore the disturbing ramifications of portrayal of the Middle East by the U.S. media; analyze the stereotypes and misconceptions that Americans have of Arabs, Iranians, and other Middle Easterners; and discuss the far-reaching political and cultural impact of the United States on the Middle East. Focusing on the U.S. media (books, magazines, newspapers, motion pictures, television) coverage and portrayal of Arabs, Palestinians, the Intifada, Middle Eastern women, Iran, Islam, Turkey, and the Persian Gulf War, the book also examines the impact of motion picture classics on young children and the perceptions of American students relative to the Middle East. College students, educators, media professionals, policy makers, researchers, writers, and all those concerned about political communication, cross-cultural education, media effects, and international communication will find startling information about a critical topic on which very little has been written.

The mass media in the Arab world and the Middle East have undergone profound changes since the beginning of the 1990s. The chapters in this volume cover basic issues such as control, ownership, and development and culture in the context of mass media and society.

This edited volume examines the current challenges to media freedom and democratisation in the Middle East. The book revisits the relationship between media consumption and activism in the region, providing thorough analyses on the appropriation of social media for political engagement. Since the outburst and spread of what was known as the ‘Arab Uprisings’ in 2010, the political and media landscapes in the Middle East region have dramatically changed. The initial hope for democratic change and governance quality improvements has faded, as several regimes in the Middle East have strengthened their repressive tactics toward voices deemed critical of governments’ practices, including journalists, bloggers, and activists. The crumbling Arab media scene has also reached an abysmal low, with little to no independence, and public perception of basic freedoms in the region has significantly dropped, as has trust in media and government institutions. This book examines current challenges to media freedom, political participation, and democratisation in the region while reassessing the dynamic relationship between media use and political engagement, amidst a complex political environment accompanied by a rapidly changing digital media landscape. This book’s relevance will appeal to varied audiences, such as scholars and students of journalism, communication, political science, and Middle Eastern studies. It will also prove to be an invaluable resource for organisations dedicated to the research of political communication, media freedom, and use patterns of nontraditional, or new, media.