THE NEW ARAB MEDIA pdf download

The New Arab Media Technology Image And Perception

THE NEW ARAB MEDIA

From the Book

The Arab world is in the midst of a new media revolution.

The range of satellite television, digital media and radio programming sources is unprecedented, offering ever-expanding opportunities for the exercise of consumer choice, as well as the proliferation of diverse messages and narratives from which audiences can select.

 State monopolies over mass communications have been rapidly eroded, posing new challenges for censorship regimes, as well as introducing a competitive environment in which new, private sector players are seeking a growing share of the productive, promotional and distributive action.

 A wealth of new research has demonstrated that this evolving media-scape is fundamentally altering the relationship between Arab publics and their governments, although the precise nature and extent of the impact on audiences remains opaque.

The initial impulse to focus attention on the proliferation of the messages to which Arab audiences were suddenly being exposed has thankfully given way to a more nuanced attentiveness to audience responses, reflecting the heterogeneity of Arab populations themselves, as well as the diversity of national experiences.

The rate at which different technologies embed, the spillover of one technology into another, and the tendency for message migration across media formats, vary significantly between countries.

The wealthier states may not surprisingly have been the quickest off the mark when it came to ‘buying in’ the new media but some of the most progressive national responses have come from cash-strapped states like Egypt and Jordan, which are eager to exploit the possibilities of developing digitally savvy labour forces. I

f the sensitivities of regimes and their regulatory or censorial tendencies are diverse, so too are the socially embedded cultural responses that shape and motivate audience choice.

The new media are exposing