Arab National Media and Political Change, 1st ed. 2016 “Recording the Transition” The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication Series

This book examines the evolution of national Arab media and its interplay with political change, particularly in emerging democracies in the context of the Arab uprisings. Investigated from a journalistic perspective, this research addresses the role played by traditional national media in consolidating emerging democracies or in exacerbating their fragility within new political contexts. Also analyzed are the ways journalists report about politics and transformations of these media industries, drawing on the international experiences of media in transitional societies. This study builds on a field investigation led by the author and conducted within the project ?Arab Revolutions: Media Revolutions,? covering Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt.

Introduction.- Chapter 1 Regulatory Media Reform: The Legacy of the Past and Burdens in the Present.- Chapter 2 Watchdogs and Patriots: How Arab Journalists Define Professionalism in Daily Practice.- Chapter 3 The Media Elite: Moderators or Preachers of the Public Opinion?.- Chapter 4 State Media: A Public Service?.- Chapter 5 Journalists versus Activist?: Traditional Journalists and Cyber Activism.- Chapter 6 Ratings Are Votes: Media and Democratization.- Conclusion.     

• Fatima El-Issawi is Senior Lecturer in Journalism at the University of Essex and Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the Middle East Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She has been leading research projects on Arab media under transition in the context of the Arab Spring. She currently leads the research project “Arab National Media and Politics: Democracy Revisited” based at the Middle East Centre. Her research focuses on the media industry in the Middle East and North Africa as it intersects journalism, public communication, policy, and academia. She has over fifteen years of experience as correspondent in conflict zones in the MENA region for international media.