Arab Media & Society

Wayne Hunt looks at media aspects of the Gaza conflict between December 2008 and January 2009, and specifically at Caryl Churchill's controversial 10-minute play entitled Seven Jewish Children – a play about Gaza. Then he speculates about an 'interview' drama to be called Frost Osama.

A Mickey Mouse lookalike character on Hamas’s al-Aqsa network generated a storm of controversy in Western media in 2007 – but were Palestinian kids actually tuning in? Yael Warshel surveys television viewing among Palestinian youth.

Although the book is poorly rendered into English, Gertz and Khleifi offer an insightful look into Palestinian film and draw an important link between art and politics in Palestinian society, says Sonia Rosen.

American television news has largely abandoned the Middle East. Can international outlets like Al Jazeera English pick up the slack? Publisher and Co-Editor Lawrence Pintak on coverage of the Gaza conflict.

More than ever before, governments and pressure groups sought to use social media like Facebook and YouTube to rally support during the Gaza conflict. Why did so many of these attempts fizzle? Managing Editor Will Ward investigates.

Refqa Abu-Remaileh on how one filmmaker uses innovative storylines and production techniques to break with more politically overt narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (features video)

October, 2007. In a segment by George Weyman, the BBC’s World’s media correspondent Sebastian Usher discusses the Alan Johnston kidnapping in Gaza and the dynamics of journalist kidnappings in the world today.

Kabha’s work falls well short of its considerable promise to chart the influence of Arabic news media on the evolution of the Palestinian National Movement in the tumultuous years that culminated in the Revolt of 1936-39, argues Aaron Jakes in his review of The Palestinian Press as Shaper of Public Opinion, 1929-1939: Writing Up a Storm.

There are few media professionals in the Middle East who juggle as many commitments as Daoud Kuttab. Director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University, he is also a regular columnist for the Jordan Times and Jerusalem Post. But perhaps his greatest achievement is as founder and chief of the Arab World’s first online community radio station AmmanNet. So what has online radio achieved in Jordan? And where can it go from here? Co-Editor and Publisher of Arab Media & Society finds out.

This book is a useful resource for understanding the post-Oslo dynamics of the Palestinian Authority and the public sphere in general, but it fails to offer conclusive insights, says Julie Norman.

Even if Dor’s book is only a case study, it nevertheless contributes to the general debate about how media can contribute to democracy and political freedom, says Jan Voelkel.