‘Safe to Speak’ For Journalists in the Middle East? Not Yet.
MICH CAFE: I’ve personally known several journalists who have been assassinated. It’s still a very dangerous occupation in the Middle East.
On Press Freedom: Jordan’s ‘Misalignment’
Any Arab country serious about supporting a free and independent press must first revise its laws to give journalists the freedom to report news without fear…
Dead Tweets: Citizen Journalists Pay the Price
MICH CAFE: With traditional media officially locked out of Syria since the start of the revolution there in March 2011, citizen journalism has taken over the mantle, at a great cost.
Top 10 Reasons White Terrorists Are Different
JUAN COLE: Number 8 – Nobody thinks white terrorists are typical of white people. But other terrorists are considered paragons of their societies.
MidEast Journalism: Whatever it Was, It Never Happened
CROSSROADS ARABIA: These stories serve as a useful reminder: Be very skeptical about any reporting coming out of the Middle East.
Media Still Searching For its Role Post Arab Spring
FRANCIS MATTHEW: Government has a huge influence on what is reported, even if in theory the relationship is supposed to be at a distance.
GCC Media and the Language of Racism
CHRISTINA HEBERT: “Aren’t they people too?” He was a man. She was a woman. Their lives mattered. Let’s show that they did.
Press Freedom Sickly in Israel and Turkey
RICHARD SILVERSTEIN: Is Israel a haven for the free press? Hardly. It allows extensive use of gag orders to protect the state, the military, and the wealthy.
Radio: UAE, Home of the World’s Worst Ads?
ALEXANDER MCNABB: It’s becoming a problem for my radio listening life: I turn the radio off as soon as the adverts come on, and then often forget to turn it back on again.
No Oxymoron: Having Both Effective Defamation Laws and a Healthy Media
MATT J. DUFFY: Private parties should be allowed to settle differences via civil courts and truth should be set as the ultimate defence against defamation.
Collective Silence Greets Activist Trial Statement
MATT J. DUFFY: The people of the UAE deserve to know the context surrounding this trial. The press does them a disservice by ignoring crucial elements of the story.
Arab Leaders Losing Battle to Control the News
JAMES M. DORSEY: Embattled regimes have failed in their effort to choke off independent reporting to ensure that their version of events dominates the news.
Newspapers Inconsistent Over Blogger Arrests
MATT J. DUFFY: The question all UAE, and indeed regional, newsrooms ask is what is the responsible approach. A responsibility to reporting the facts, or to safeguard their future.
‘So What’s Your Agenda?’: How the Media Works
STEVE ROYSTON: Impartial, objective seekers of truth? It’s a tough job reporting on events in the Middle East, particularly when the region is seething.
Title Irony: Why Journalists like to do PR on PRs
ALEXANDER MCNABB: It infuriates me because I know how very dishonest the practice is – from a media that insists on telling us that it is the only trustworthy source.
On Your Bike – an Untrue Ad Executed Badly
ALEXANDER MCNABB: My delight is enhanced that the latest piece witless buffoonery originates from HSBC, the bank that likes to say ‘Is there anything else I can do to help you?’ at the end of calls where they have been signally useless.
‘If it bleeds, it leads’. Agendas, bias, ‘poppycutting’
The UAE finds itself in the international spotlight again – and for all of the wrong reasons. So why do the Western media ‘accentuate the negative’ and forget the positive when reporting events in the Arab world?
Radio Daze – Why Saudi Radio gets no Reception
When MOCI, after 3 years of stagnation, finally decided to grant licenses for new radio stations, the average price was around SR50 million…
