MER Article Short-Circuiting the Media/Policy Machine Media coverage of the February 1998 showdown with Iraq highlighted subtle but significant changes in the relationship between the mainstream media and US foreign policymaking. Although the major media -- despite some alleged soul searching by media professionals [1] after the Gulf war -- have change Sam Husseini • 10 min read
MER Article So No One Can Say "We Didn't Know" In a world where journalists are increasingly attacked for their work, it is gratifying when an organization of Amnesty International’s stature appreciates a reporter’s work. But there is a more important reason as a journalist to be grateful. Over the past 22 years in the Middle East, I Robert Fisk • 3 min read
MER Article Press Freedom in Jordan Throughout 1997, mounting restrictions on the press in Jordan reflected the government’s broader agenda of masking the widening divide between the state and its domestic political critics. In May, 1997, six months before the parliamentary elections, the cabinet of Prime Minister ‘Abd al-Salam al-Maj Joel Campagna • 14 min read
MER Article Gulf War Journalism John J. Fialka, Hotel Warriors: Covering the Gulf War (Woodrow Wilson Center, 1991). John R. MacArthur, Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War (Hill and Wang, 1992). Jacqueline Sharkey, Under Fire: US Military Restrictions on the Media from Grenada to the Persian Gulf (Center for Barbara Harlow • 4 min read
MER Article Cartoon Commentary A cartoon image is short and direct and does not move when you look at it. Condensing history, culture and social relationships within a single frame, a cartoon can recontextualize events and evoke reference points in ways that a photograph or even a film cannot. Like graffiti, jokes and other genre Susan Slyomovics • 7 min read
MER Article Muhammad al-Saqr on Kuwait's Press Muhammad al-Saqr has been editor-in-chief of the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas since 1983. Although he has a business background, the paper’s reputation for balance and accuracy has grown under al-Saqr’s leadership. Al-Saqr was detained and interrogated a week before he received a Press Freedom Award from (Author not identified) • 2 min read
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 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 The News Industry Over the past few months, a couple of stories have crossed our desk that merit more attention than they got. These stories tell us some important things about how the US news industry operates, especially its willingness to follow the administration’s cues on major issues. Al Miskin • 4 min read
From the Editors (September/October 1985) The popular revolution in Sudan this spring may well represent more than just a local political transition. The overthrow of Numairi’s 16-year reign marks the end of a decade and a half of regime stability throughout the Arab world, with the exception of the two Yemens. This era of enormous wealth a The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Turkish Regime Pursues Journalists On February 29, 1984, the Ankara correspondent for United Press International, Ismet Imset, was visited just before midnight by an acquaintance from the Security Forces. The visitor warned him that he and his wife (presumably along with their three-year-old child) were about to be taken into detenti (Author not identified) • 3 min read
