commbox Middle East & North Africa

Viabilidade da mídia: Consultas nacionais sobre soluções para promoção e preservação de sua independência. Brasil, El Salvador, Indonésia, Jamaica, Líbano, Namíbia, Nigéria, Paquistão, Senegal e Tunísia

Brasilia: UNESCO;Free Press Unlimited (2022), 32 pp.

"Este relatório fornece transcrições resumidas de consultas nacionais sobre a viabilidade da mídia com as partes interessadas no setor dos meios de comunicação. As consultas nacionais são baseadas nas trocas de conhecimento e pesquisas proporcionadas pela UNESCO e pela The Economist Intellige ... more

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Media Reform in Tunisia: A Volatile Process

Fatima el Issawi

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2022), 8 pp.

"President Saied’s moves to undermine constitutional governance and Tunisia’s parliament pose a major challenge for further media reforms. Yet, should the political environment prove enabling, foreign donors, media assistance organizations, and other stakeholders should prioritize working with l ... more

Lebanon's 2022 Parliamentary Election: A Look into Political Parties' Online Behaviour Vis-à-vis Alternative Candidates

Ralph Baydoun, Yara Al Chehayed

Metn: Samir Kassir Foundation (2022), 132 pp.

WIN Leadership Mapping: Global Report

Gabriella Siciliano

Women in News (2022), 26 slides

"In 0 of 17 markets [in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia] did the percentage of women holding top business positions exceed 25%. The highest performer was the Philippines with 22%. In 2 of 17 markets, the percentage of women holding top editorial positions was skewed in favour of women. In ... more

Moroccans Support Media’s Watchdog Role But Endorse Government Restrictions on Information

Mhammed Abderebbi

Afrobarometer (2022), 11 pp.

Media Reform in Tunisia: A Volatile Process

Fatima el Issawi

Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) (2022), 25 pp.

"The halting progress of the Tunisian media reform reflects the uncertainty and vulnerability of the political reform. As Professor of Communication and Democracy Katrin Voltmer contends, emerging media systems are unique types that are a blend of inherited structures, the constraints of the transit ... more

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A critical analysis of journalists’ freedom of expression and access to information while reporting on COVID-19 issues: A case of selected Arab countries

Miral Sabry AlAshry

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, volume 20, issue 2 (2022), pp. 193-212

"The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which Arab Governments limited freedom of expression and access to information for journalists while they reported on COVID-19-related issues. Design/methodology/approach: Focus group discussions were conducted with 20 journalists from Egypt ... more

Review of the Funding Landscape for Media Development Actors in Lebanon

Michael Randall

Brussels: Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD);Samir Kassir Foundation;International Media Support (IMS) (2022), 27 pp.

"[...] there has been a growing recognition that traditional approaches to media development are struggling to deliver the anticipated results. This acknowledgement has led some donors to conduct far-ranging needs assessments in order to better understand the priorities of their beneficiaries as wel ... l as the environmental constraints that have blunted the impact of media development initiatives in the past. At the same time, the recipients of donor funding are increasingly asking to have a say in determining the kind of support that is provided by the international community. They say that programmes should be driven by demand rather than by donor assumptions or thematic priorities that do not fully reflect the situation on the ground. The calls for proposals reviewed during this study suggest that donors are responding to these concerns. There is clear evidence of concerted efforts to make funding more accessible to local organisations and to move the centre of gravity away from international partners. Although some programmes remain out of the reach of local players due to the size of their budgets or their regional scope, they often include very significant sub-granting programmes aimed at helping local media to become viable businesses and at supporting the production of public interest content. The themes embraced by the calls also reflect the urgent need within the media sector to build resilience to economic shocks, political bullying and disinformation campaigns. There is a marked insistence on promoting usable skills such as factchecking and mobile journalism, accompanied by provisions for ensuring that training is delivered by “media professionals as opposed to professional trainers with minimal or no experience in the media industry”. These are positive developments which, to a large extent, have been driven by sustained dialogue between stakeholders and far-ranging needs assessments. Of particular note in Lebanon is the unprecedented success of the Media Recovery Fund, initiated by the Samir Kassir Foundation, which marks a dramatic shift in the implementer-donor relationship. There is a strong possibility that this approach could form the focus of future coordination efforts and could, in time, serve as the cornerstone for a national media development strategy. It could also become a blueprint for other countries in the region." (Executive summary) more

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Cyber Muslims: Mapping Islamic Digital Media in the Internet Age

Robert Thomas Rozehnal (ed.)

London et al.: Bloomsbury Academic (2022), xv, 327 pp.

"Providing detailed case studies, this book explores the vibrant digital expressions of diverse groups of Muslim cybernauts: religious clerics and Sufi mystics, feminists and fashionistas, artists and activists, Hajj pilgrims and celebrities. Together, these stories span a vast cultural and geograph ... more

Conflict narratives in the news and digital spaces: The dangerous placebo of geopolitical power and their digital news versus technology effects on stories of water and border disuptes in Africa

Loubna Mckouar

Africa No Filter (2022), iii, 31 pp.

Représentations des migrations dans les médias: État des lieux des initiatives de renforcement de capacités menées et recommandations

Développement Médias (2022), 309 pp.

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Shifting Cyberfeminism and Gendered Activisms in the Gulf: A Saudi Feminist Spring?

Sahar Khamis

Journal of Arabian Studies, volume 12, issue 1 (2022), pp. 1-23

"This qualitative feminist study sheds light on women’s shifting identities, struggles, and resistances in the most conservative Gulf state, Saudi Arabia, unpacking the shifting socio-political and mediated environments in this country and their impact on gendered activism. Through conducting in-d ... more

Transitional Justice in Syria: Practical Solutions

Beirut: Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) (2022), 56 pp.

Countering digital authoritarianism: Strengthening civil society capacity to reduce disinformation and digital authoritarianism in Iraq

Arlington, VA: Management Systems International;USAID (2022), 40 pp.

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China's Discourse Power Operations in the Global South: An overview of Chinese Activities in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East

Kenton Thibaut

Washington, DC: Atlantic Council of the United States (2022), 23 pp.

The Strategic Bias: How Journalists Respond to Antimedia Populism

Ayala Panievsky

International Journal of Press/Politics, volume 27, issue 4 (2022), pp. 808-826

"As populist campaigns against the media become increasingly common around the world, it is ever more urgent to explore how journalists adopt and respond to them. Which strategies have journalists developed to maintain the public's trust, and what may be the implications for democracy? These questio ... more

Youth and Independent Media in Palestine: Focus Group Findings

Jad Safwan

Beirut: Samir Kassir Foundation (2022), 8 pp.

"1. Social media is a key resource for news. A primary factor is its friendly user interface. It also acts as a “one-stop-shop” where users can shape the types of media they consume. This forms a stark contrast with offline media, which made little notable presence for attendees across all group ... more

Taming the People: Comparing Protests and Populism in Arab and American Politics

Sahar Khamis, Khalid Al-Jaber

Frontiers in Communication, volume 6, issue 780317 (2022), 11 pp.

"The spread of social media platforms ushered the beginning of an unprecedented communication era, which is borderless, immediate, widespread, and defies restrictions and censorship. Digital technology aided the spread of democracy and freedom of expression and helped to overthrow some Arab regimes ... more

Counter digital revolution, disinformation, and journalistic constraints in Arab media

Sahar Khamis, Khalid Al-Jaber

Journalism Research/Journalistik, volume 3, issue 5 (2022), pp. 234-252