The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics [Hardcover]

Philip Seib (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2008

The battle for hearts and minds in the Middle East is being fought not on the streets of Baghdad, but on the newscasts and talk shows of Al Jazeera. The future of China is being shaped not by Communist Party bureaucrats, but by bloggers working quietly in cyber cafes. The next attacks by al Qaeda will emerge not from Osama bin Laden’s cave, but from cells around the world connected by the Internet.

In these and many other instances, traditional ways of reshaping global politics have been superseded by the influence of new media—satellite television, the Internet, and other high-tech tools. What is involved is more than a refinement of established practices. We are seeing a comprehensive reconnecting of the global village and a reshaping of how the world works.

Al Jazeera is a paradigm of new media’s influence. Ten years ago, there was much talk about “the CNN effect,” the theory that news coverage—especially gripping visual storytelling—was influencing foreign policy throughout the world. Today, “the Al Jazeera effect” takes that a significant step further. The concept encompasses the use of new media as tools in every aspect of global affairs, ranging from democratization to terrorism, and including the concept of “virtual states.”

“The media” are no longer just the media. They have a larger popular base than ever before and, as a result, have unprecedented impact on international politics. The media can be tools of conflict and instruments of peace; they can make traditional borders irrelevant and unify peoples scattered across the globe. This phenomenon, the Al Jazeera effect, is reshaping the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 1st edition (September 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597972002
• ISBN-13: 978-1597972000
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #424,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mapping the first large-scale shift away from Western media dominance since the advent of television, Seib (Headline Democracy) argues that framing conflict in the Middle East as a clash of civilizations has outlived its polemical and practical uses. The book makes a convincing case that the rise of Al Jazeera—with its audience of 35 million—reflects how satellite television and the Internet create virtual communities that can significantly influence political policy. Seib cites the example of Hezbollah, a geopolitical group without easily definable territory, and suggests that Al Qaeda is similarly a virtual state existing through the combination of communication and political will. Information is no longer the province of a political elite, according to the author whose wide-ranging evidence includes a fascinating description of how news of the SARS outbreak in China first leaked via text message and in Internet chatrooms. The author also examines how the constant proliferation of perspectives on the Internet, for example, can both mitigate and exacerbate problems of assimilation. Seib constructs an imaginative, thorough and balanced assessment of how news—ever more a dialogue and less an event—is redistributing political power. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

Beyond what was called the “CNN effect” 10 years ago, when news went global 24/7, Al Jazeera is producing its own effect, helping to promote an “unprecedented cohesion in the worldwide Muslim community.” It is part of the rising prominence of nontraditional non-Western media, seeping through the Internet, radio, and satellite television to deliver news in ways and from viewpoints that have not been widely heard. Seib, a journalism professor, examines how the new global media are developing and the long-range implications for global politics. Qatar-based Al Jazeera, along with other Islamic communications, is influencing everything from democratization to terrorism, even creating “virtual states” that are as much a danger and influence in the Middle East as actual states. Seib outlines the major players in the shifting media world as well as the informal bloggers in China and other nations who are bringing new perspectives to news coverage. This is a compelling look at how changes in communication are reshaping geopolitics. --Vanessa Bush

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 1st edition (September 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597972002
• ISBN-13: 978-1597972000
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.9 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #424,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights on how new(ish) media are transforming the Islamic world November 13, 2009

By S. J. Snyder VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Seib, an insightful political scientist and journalism analyst both, brings both barrels to play in looking at how first, satellite TV, and now, blogs, Twitter, etc., are changing news coverage within the Muslim world, especially, but not only, in the Arab heartland.

That includes their impact not just on traditional nation-states, but stateless actors like al Qaeda, and in-between players, quasi-states without borders like Kurdistan.

That said, Seib is a realist. He notes that, while media in Lebanon pinned back Syria's ears as part of the Cedar Revolution, it has had little power to change political structures in places like the Gulf kingdoms, Iran or Egypt.

In any case, without being explicitly predictive, Seib has good insights for future developments.

As part of that, while looking primarily at news coverage issues, he also looks at the financial side, no small matter with the financial backing al-Jazeera, especially, gets. He offers no predictions as to when it will be able to stand on its own two feet, but notes that this too is an issue needing further attention.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Media it is a-changing February 21, 2013

By Alice Faryna

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book may be a little out of date as it was published in 2008. However it gives a good insight into how this media giant of the mideast mananges to provide good coverage of events over the world and how the post 1991 world of reporting has changed. There are now thousands of citizen journalists using social media, cell phones and blogs to provide information the mainstream media doesn't bother with. Our electronic connections now drive public opinion in new ways. It has led to de-territorialization of the planet. There are now virtual states with out boundaries and worldwide virtual communities (eg muslims).

4.0 out of 5 stars Another must read for Americans December 22, 2012

By G. Budrikis

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

If Americans want to understand the world today, this book is a good place to start. It is quite "busy", ie it jumps from topic to topic and I sometimes lost the thread. The basic idea seems to be that when Al Jazeera started broadcasting, this was a revolutionary change on the top of the scale, comparable to Russia deposing the Czars (and a lot less bloody).

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read February 24, 2010

By Eric Fitzgerald

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm a political science major, and had to right a book review for a class I was taking, the book doesn't read like a text book and is still very informative and education it keeps the reader intriuged the whole way. Very good.