Customer Reviews

Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

'To see ourselves as others see us' (from Robert Burns) is not something that we are usually granted. In today's world Al-Jazeera is presenting us with that opportunity.

The Arab world is for the most part characterised by leadership that is less than ideal. In most Arab countries the news is heavily censored, controled or owned by a state that just wants its own views to be shown. These media had relatively little to tell us as they were simply parroting the governments view. ==In recent years, Al-Jazeera and other smaller satellite based news agencies have begun presenting a relatively unbiased news report that goes around the official government reporting.

This book is first a report on Al-Jazeera and the way it presents the news. Second, it offers a series of suggestions on how the United States can develop and improve its engagement with the Arab public sphere.

This is one of the few books to report on the Arab view, and further to discuss the changes in the information dissemination area. It is a book that deserves reading by anyone interested in developing a realistic view of the conflict that is emerging between the US and the Arab world.

Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, Al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today boldly reveals that the era of monolithic Arab opinion are over. Examining how Al-Jazeera and other satellite television stations have revolutionized Arab journalism and politics by breaking state control over information, Voices of the New Arab Public particularly focuses upon the Al-Jazeera era in context of the challenges facing modern Iraq. Political science professor Marc Lynch offers a fascinating study of the history, present day, and future of new voices flourishing in the middle east.