MER Article Politics and Media in the Arab World Hisham Milhem is the Washington correspondent of the Beirut daily al-Safir. Born in Lebanon, Milhem has lived and worked in Washington since 1976. Joe Stork and Sally Ethelston spoke with him in Washington in September 1992. What are the salient features of the power structure of the Arab media? Wh Sally Ethelston, Joe Stork • 10 min read
MER Article Money, Media and Policy Consensus Although the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) was established only in 1985, by the time the Bush administration came to office in January 1989 it had become the non-governmental organization with the greatest influence over US Middle East policy. WINEP built its success on ample fun Joel Beinin • 16 min read
MER Article "Giving Good Bite" Network researchers who book “experts” say they look for someone who can “give good bite.” Two of the most conspicuous prime-time sound bite experts during the war against Iraq were Anthony Cordesman and Fouad Ajami. These sketches were prepared by Sandrine Bretonniere. Anthony Cordesman: “We Must (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Who Owns the News? TELEVISION ABC Capital Cities bought ABC, with its 230 affiliated stations, for $3.4 billion in 1986. Also owns: 8 TV stations; 9 dailies, 74 weeklies (Kansas City Star); radio networks with 3,000 affiliated stations; 21 radio stations; a cable programming company; some 60 publications (Women’s Wea Sally Ethelston, Martha Wenger • 3 min read
MER Article Power Structure of the American Media me•di•a pl. of medium 2. an intervening thing through which a force acts or an effect is produced 3. any means, agency or instrument; specif., a means of communication that reaches the general public and carries advertising. —Webster’s New World Dictionary Laura Flanders, Joe Stork • 12 min read
MER Article From the Editors (January/February 1993) “Propaganda to Journalism” was the New York Times headline on a year-end story about mass media in former Socialist countries, without the slightest self-consciousness about how US coverage of events like the Somalia intervention exemplifies “journalism to propaganda.” Perhaps there have been equall The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Halliday, Revolution and Foreign Policy Fred Halliday, Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen, 1967-1987 (Cambridge, 1990). Sheila Carapico • 2 min read
MER Article Three Intifada Books F. Robert Hunter, The Palestinian Uprising: A War by Other Means (I. B. Tauris, 1991). Joost Hiltermann, Behind the Intifada: Labor and Women’s Movements in the Occupied Territories (Princeton, 1991). Julie Peteet, Gender in Crisis: Women and the Palestinian Resistance Movement (Columbia, 1991). Lucine Taminian • 4 min read
MER Article Islam and Human Rights Kevin Dwyer, Arab Voices: The Human Rights Debate in the Middle East (Routledge, 1991). Ann Elizabeth Mayer, Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics (Westview, 1991). Naseer Aruri • 5 min read
MER Article Aspects of Egyptian Civil Resistance Several films with critical political content opened during the 1992 Ramadan season in Egypt. The most popular was al-Irhab wa al-Kabab (Terrorism and Kebab), directed by Sharif ‘Arafa and starring Egypt’s foremost comic actor, ‘Adil Imam. The protagonist repeatedly visits the hub of the central government bureaucracy -- a Joel Beinin • 4 min read
MER Article State and Bourgeoisie in the Persian Gulf It is a widely held myth that Gulf businessmen accumulated their fabulous wealth by using traditional commercial acumen and guile refined over generations. Undoubtedly in a few cases this is true, but most businessmen in the modern, post-oil Gulf made their money less glamorously. For some, the vehicle was land Fareed Mohamedi • 8 min read
MER Article USAID's "Free-Market" Democracy “Two historic transformations are sweeping much of the world today -- the establishment of open market economies and the movement toward more accountable democratic governance.” This assertion, extracted from a US Agency for International Development (USAID) document, reflects a belief widely held among government officials and media pundits alike, who Al Miskin • 6 min read
