Traditional Media in the Arab/Iranian World

(Right) Jerusalem Post (especially Caroline Glick's column)- http://www.jpost.com
(Left) Ha'aretz (especially Brad Burston's “Special Place in Hell” - http://www.haaretz.com/

Palestinian News Network - http://english.pnn.ps/

BBC News (Middle East) - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/default.stm
Al Jazeera (English) - http://english.aljazeera.net/

Magharbeia.com (Northern Africa) - http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/homepage/default
Albawaba.com (Great gateway site) - http://www.albawaba.com/

Hurriyet (Turkey) - http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/home/
Daily Star (Not great reporting, but a great opinion section) - http://www.dailystar.com.lb/

Rami Khouri - http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=102988

Jordan Times - http://www.jordantimes.com/

Islamic Republic News Agency (Iran) - http://www.irna.ir/En/?idLanguage=3

Gulf Times - http://www.gulf-times.com/

The Peninsula - http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/index00.asp

Dawn (Pakistan) - http://www.dawn.com/

Watching America - http://watchingamerica.com/News/

Doha Center for Media Freedom - Under construction
Al-Masry Al-Youm - http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en
The National (UAE) - http://www.thenational.ae
Al Arabiya (Satellite) - http://www.alarabiya.net/english.html
Yeman Post - http://www.yemenpost.net/
Yemen Times - http://www.yementimes.com/
Kuwait Times - http://www.kuwaittimes.net/
Now Lebanon - http://www.nowlebanon.com/

America looks at the "Middle East"

Esquire, Nov. 1882 - The Man who Married Dan Rather

- "Moments" - somebody watches something and feels it, tastes it and knows it." (Van Gordon) Sauter wanted several such moments of 'intense feeling' in every broadcast."

- an emphasis on heart-tugging TV "moments"

Concentration of Media Ownership

In 1981, forty-six media companies controlled most of the book, magazine, newspaper, movie, and television industries. By 1986, this number had shrunk to twenty-nine and by 1989 to twenty-five. Then, in the 1990s, the process of conglomeration in the media was so rapid that one could scarcely follow the players. Disney bought ABC, Westinghouse bought CBS, and General Electric took over NBC. A new network, Fox, was able to supply some competition, but only because it was part of a huge global newspaper, book, and TV empire belonging to Rupert Murdoch. Time/Warner not only controlled magazines, movies, and books, but had also taken over Turner Broadcasting, CNN, and a wide swath of the cable TV distribution network.

By 1997, just seven giant companies had nearly cornered the vast multimedia markets of the United States: Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, Viacom, Time/Warner, Newhouse, General Electric, Westinghouse, and Disney.

Media ownership study ordered destroyed
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14836500/

The analysis showed local ownership of television stations adds almost five and one-half minutes of total news to broadcasts and more than three minutes of "on-location" news. The conclusion is at odds with FCC arguments made when it voted in 2003 to increase the number of television stations a company could own in a single market. It was part of a broader decision liberalizing ownership rules. At that time, the agency pointed to evidence that "commonly owned television stations are more likely to carry local news than other stations."

Humans prefer cockiness to expertise

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227115.500-humans-prefer-cockiness-to-expertise.html

No True Scotsman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_scotsman

Boston Globe series on Saddam Statue

http://www.boston.com/news/packages/iraq/galleries/statue/01.htm

Toppling of Saddam Statue

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Toppling_the_statue_of_Saddam_Hussein

When contemplating war, beware of babies in incubators

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0906/p25s02-cogn.html

NYT: We Made Big Mistakes On Front-Page Gitmo Story, But We Did Not Get Spun

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/nyt_editors_note_walks_back_claims_in_front-page_g.php

Seeing the news through "cultural values"

Several years ago, Karyn Karnheim, who was then at the AEI, noted that people filter their views through their cultural values. That's why a fact is not a fact to them, unless it aligns with their own views. She also added that reporters frequently don't understand when people seem to ignore what seems "indisputable" to them. What actually happened or what was actually said really matters very little.

Social Media in the Arab region

Generation Mubarak/Generation Facebook

Arab women emerge as internet-savvy

Egyptian opposition, pro-government groups battle on Facebook

Khaled Said

Mohammed ElBardei Facebook page

Iran issues list of banned websites

Iran Green Movement

ElBaradei for President Facebook page

Blogs worth reading

Saudi Jeans
http://saudijeans.org/

Mona Elthhawy Blog
http://www.monaeltahawy.com/blog/