- Home
- A-Z Publications
- Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research
- Previous Issues
- Volume 4, Issue 1, 2011
Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2011
Volume 4, Issue 1, 2011
-
-
Framing new communicative technologies in the Arab world
Authors: Anissa Daoudi and Emma MurphyThis article explores how the academic discourses that have arisen out of research into the political and sociocultural impacts of contemporary information and communications technologies in the Arab world both mirror and diverge from similar discourses arising out of language and linguistics research. The authors suggest that there are five central understandings of this impact: discourses of development, emancipation, subordination, adaptation and resistance. Whilst political research focuses mostly on the first three, cultural and linguistic research emphasizes the latter two. The authors argue that the evidence presented here supports a case for a concerted inter-disciplinary approach to the study of ICTs in the region, on the grounds that it offers the best chance to capture the multiple textures and layers of the regional experience.
-
-
-
Global communication models and formats: A case study of the sustenance of the media industry in the Arab world
More LessThe aim of this study is to establish the correlation between the growth, diffusion and innovation of global media models and formats on the one hand and, on the other, the sustenance of the media industry in the Arab countries. Communication scholars maintain that global mass communication is a multifaceted phenomenon. This is reflected in the direct transmission and distribution of media channels, the spread of international media such as the BBC World Service, the creation of domestic media output and the foreign global formats and genres that are tailored to suit domestic audiences. This study utilizes the theoretical development approach. The conceptual framework underpinning this study focuses on different approaches to development media theory. It maintains that global media need to be analysed with new paradigms, positioning socio-economic indicators as core variables in the global media sphere.
-
-
-
Internet usage vs traditional media usage among university students in the United Arab Emirates
More LessThis study aims at investigating Internet usage vs traditional media usage among university students of the University of Sharjah (UOS) in the United Arab Emirates. It adopts the ‘uses and gratification’ approach to explain how students are goal-oriented in their use of mass media and the Internet. A questionnaire was designed and tested on a sample of 270 students of the UOS. The questionnaire included 21 questions covering patterns of using traditional media (television, radio and newspapers) and the use of the Internet among students. Findings of the study show that patterns of exposure to mass media and new media among the students of the UOS reflect the importance of the Internet in comparison to traditional media. All students access the Internet extensively and use it to gratify their personal needs, social needs and educational needs. Findings also show that the Internet has effects on students’ exposure to traditional media. This finding indicates that while the effect of the Internet on watching TV and reading newspapers is obvious, its effect on listening to radio is moderate. The Internet is seen as one of the most important mediums and a threat to traditional mass media. As for the differences between male and female students, findings of the study show that the gender of students has an obvious effect on his/her usage of mass media and the Internet. While male students are watching TV and reading newspapers to follow up current affairs and to get information, female students are watching TV for entertainment and to consume time. Entertainment is the main reason for listening to radio for both male and female students. As for the Internet, while the main reasons for accessing the Internet among male student are to communicate through e-mails and to follow up current affairs, female students use the Internet mostly to entertain themselves and to search for information related to their studies.
-
-
-
Reading the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through an Islamophobic prism: The Italian press and the Gaza war
More LessSince the beginning of the 1990s, Italy has progressively modified its previous pro-Arab foreign policy. In particular, Berlusconi’s government has radically changed the Italian position regarding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, becoming a strong Israeli ally. Starting from 9/11, this trend has intertwined with an increasingly widespread Islamophobia, which ranges from the idea that Muslim immigrants are challenging Italian political institutions to the perception of a Muslim attack on Italian culture and values. Through an analysis of newspapers and weeklies, this article intends to demonstrate that the Gaza war of December 2008–January 2009 was presented by some of the Italian press through an Islamophobic prism. In fact, the conflict was read through the lens of an Islamic war against the ‘democratic’ western-oriented Israeli society, similar to the one Muslim immigrants are conducting against Europe.
-
-
-
The limits of dissent: Palestinian media in a Jewish ethnocracy
By Una McGahernThis article examines the impact of new political communication strategies upon state policy towards Palestinian Arab media in Israel. While the majority of studies on Palestinian Arab media in Israel have tended to focus upon patterns of media production or consumption by the minority, little attention has been given to the relationship between the structural dimensions of power and inequality in society and the development of Palestinian counter-hegemony in Israel. This article examines the location of Palestinian Arab media within the broader system of Jewish ethnocratic control in Israel and argues that despite the diverse range of modern media at its disposal, the Palestinian Arab minority – together with its media – remains marginalized and limited in its ability to affect political change within Israeli society.
-
-
-
Palestinian women, the western press and the first intifada
More LessMore than two decades have passed since the beginning of the first Palestinian intifada in 1987. The conflict was a defining conflict in the history of the modern Middle East as well as the Palestinian people, particularly Palestinian women. Palestinian women, previously less involved in public life, were extremely active in the intifada. Through traditional, qualitative analysis, this article seeks to determine if western newspaper coverage of the conflict recognized the significant role played by women. Results suggest that many western newspaper reporters did, indeed, report on female participation in the conflict, giving particular attention to female Palestinian activism, participation in physical combat and female casualties. Quite early in the intifada, western newspaper reporters seemed to recognize the historical involvement of Palestinian women in the conflict and included it in their reportage.
-