2007/2

von Nabil Echchaibi

Dieser Beitrag erschien auf Englisch in der Ausgabe 2/2007 der WACC-Zeitschrift „Media Development“.

Als Edward Said 2003 gestorben war, betrauerten seine glühenden arabischen Unterstützer den Verlust eines unersetzlichen, berühmten arabischen Intellektuellen, der entschlossen die Tyrannei des Starrsinns westlicher Orientalisten und ihre imperialistische Paranoia entlarvte. Seine scharfzüngige Beschreibung, wie arabische Stimmen im westlichen Diskurses über den Mittleren Osten zum Schweigen verurteilt wurden, hat ihn zu einer viel beachteten Stimme des Widerstandes und zu einem authentischen Sprecher der arabischen Sache gemacht. Als politisch seiner Rechte beraubter Palästinenser hat sein energisches Eintreten für die Rechte der machlosen Araberinnen und Araber ihm eine beispiellose Anerkennung durch arabische Denker eingetragen, von denen die meisten wie Said Erfahrungen des physischen und intellektuellen Exils besitzen.

Mohammed Hirchi

Media representations of Middle Easterners in the United States have been instrumental in the construction of a number of negative stereotypes portraying them as carnal, enigmatic, exotic, unpredictable and violent. After the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the American invasion of Iraq, these images have been intensified through a well structured network of television and film depictions. Within this particular historical and political context, images are loaded with ideological propaganda and are constructed to articulate, transmit, promote and legitimize knowledge and information about this geographical location. They are subject to manipulation by various political apparatuses and to tight government control.

Riad Jarjour and Jérôme Chahine
What image of the Middle East do we find in the Western and Middle Eastern media? Is it an objective one or a biased one based on a preconceived ideological position? What difference is there in the features of the image here and there? If the image reflected by the media here and there does not coincide with objective reality, what are the reasons and motives of this incongruence? Is it true that only the Middle East can understand the Middle East? These are questions that demand long and documented research. In this article we shall try to answer them as best we can.

Nafissa Lahrech

‘Journalistic practice is both freedom and responsibility, and any imbalance between them would jeopardize the smooth running of media and political development of any country’, said German communications lecturer Barbara Thomas.1 ‘Press freedom implies distancing from governments and never giving in to threat, blackmail or pressure from any party’ she added. If this is a rule in practicing freedom of the press, regarded as an index of democracy in all societies, we have to ask ourselves as Middle Eastern peoples, where do we stand with regard to such freedoms? What is the reality, in our countries of political freedom and democracy which reflects people’s sovereignty and right to control public affairs?

Tara McKelvey

Up to a point, Al Jazeera English looks like your cable news. Past that point, it doesn’t. Not that you can see it anyway.

Al Jazeera has been called ‘the terrorist network,’ a ‘beheadings channel,’ and ‘a mouthpiece for Osama bin Laden.’ Yet there was Dave Marash, 64, Al Jazeera’s improbable anchor, sitting at his computer in a seventh-floor corner office in its K Street location, surrounded by mementos from his work as an Emmy-award-winning Nightline correspondent -- a William Gaddis novel on a shelf, an Eva Cassidy plaque on a wall, and a Ghanan akuaba’a fertility doll on top of his bookshelf.

Ibrahim Nawar

The most single famous television outlet in the world in the first few years of the 21st century belongs to the Arab World. Al Jazeera, first praised, then lambasted, then bombed by the United States, is simply the best known of over 100 satellite TV channels that have appeared in the Arab World in the last decade. But while there is no question these channels, and the arrival of the Internet, have brought change, much of it positive in the information landscape of the region, this article argues there is a danger they create an unrealistic rosy image of the Arab media world.

von Teke Ngomba

Dieser Beitrag erschien auf Englisch in der Ausgabe 2/2007 der WACC-Zeitschrift „Media Development“.

Es ist keine Übertreibung zu sagen, dass das Konzept öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks stark gefährdet ist. Angesichts der Tatsache, dass das Publikum immer mehr unterschiedliche Programmangebote nutzt, wird es schwieriger, von allen zu zahlende Rundfunkgebühren zu rechtfertigen. Und dadurch, dass der Rundfunk heute nationale Grenzen überschreitet, wird der Stellenwert nationaler Mediensysteme infrage gestellt. Angesichts der Bedeutung der globalen Kommunikation unter Nutzung des Internets können die Zukunft der „Massenmedien“ und der journalistischen Berufe als gefährdet angesehen werden.

Chinyere Stella Okunna and Ifeoma Vivian Dunu
In virtually every society, religion wields a powerful and tremendous influence in the lives of the populace. Many of the rules and regulations that guide and determine the laws of the land and shape ideologies and life styles emanate from prevalent religious beliefs and practices. This is especially true of Nigeria, where religion has become a dominant part of the people’s social life.

Jack G. Shaheen
As motion pictures are one of the most powerful teaching tools ever created, this article will examine how image makers have presented the Arab woman. History reveals that since the beginning of cinema, in fact for more than a century, Hollywood’s movies have humiliated, demonized, and eroticized Arab women. Obviously, film makers did not create these images but inherited and embellished Europe’s pre-existing Arab stereotypes. In the 18th and 19th centuries European artists and writers offered fictional renditions of women as bathed and submissive exotic ‘objects’. The stereotype came to be accepted as valid, becoming an indelible part of European popular culture.

James M. Wall
The iron grip that the pro-Israel lobby has over US public consciousness started to weaken in 2006. The lobby’s control over media, money, and politicians is still strong, but two recent publications suggest that the lobby’s power is built on a shaky foundation, an alternative version of reality that is now under serious scrutiny. And that scrutiny evokes the old axiom: You cannot fool all the people all the time.