Middle East Media Educator

A Transparent Look at a Counsellor’s Inner World: Learning to Self-differentiate and Hold the Client’s Pain

Mona Moussa — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:20:23 PDT

The first time I encountered the concept of “sitting with the pain” was in supervision, some eight years ago when I was doing an internship in counselling psychology. This was following a particularly difficult session with a client, who was clinically depressed and was desperately trying to process her feelings of grief and loss. As I sat with her in the session, an intense feeling of helplessness took over me and I fought hard to resist the urge to provide her with a solution and a “quick-fix”. Later in supervision, as I related what happened, I realized that I was actually afraid to confront my own anxiety in the session, and to confront my own assumptions about what my role as a therapist is. As I delved deeper into my own fears, I realized that I was afraid to confront the reality, the fact that I could not “save” my clients, that I could not take away their pain and that I could not do their work for them.

Delivering Emirates News

Noni Edwards — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:10:21 PDT

As a journalist with the English language Emirates News in Dubai, every day is different. As my colleague, reporter Sheri Jamkhou, puts it, “The best points of the job are that it’s not monotonous, you get to meet different people from all walks of life, and a new opportunity arises every day.” For most members of the team (and any journalist with even a minor addiction to news) the day starts as soon as we switch on a television, scan through internet news sites or scroll through our Twitter feeds. We bring ourselves up-to-speed on the local, regional and international news of the day and begin to consider which stories may be appropriate for us to cover in that evening’s half-hour bulletin. As a part of Dubai Media Incorporated (a Dubai Government department), our news priorities start in Dubai, move to the rest of the UAE, the Gulf and Middle East, and finally broaden out to international stories, where we have time in the bulletin. The main reason we focus on local stories over international news, is that there are cable networks and international providers who already cover global news well, but our niche, our advantage and indeed our charter is to provide news on Dubai to our Anglophone audience.

Technology in media and communications: catalyst, enabler, or driver of change?

Katy Branson — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 16:00:34 PDT

In today’s world of always-on connectivity, convergent communications and media pervasiveness, it would be difficult to deny the pivotal role of technology in changing the shape of society in general and communications specifically. The ‘art’ of communication is unrecognizable in comparison to what our predecessors would have had to go to in order to speak with relatives, friends and business contacts. And by predecessors, we do not need to search back far– just through one generation to the world in which our parents were raised is enough to ring the changes. The question is whether it is the technology itself that is driving evolution in our communications environment. To what extent is the rate of technological change in communications media exerting a direct influence on aspects such as the need for regulatory change in the industry, creation of new media markets and spurring quite radical social change in the region…or should we be looking at social change from a different perspective?

Tunisian Media Aren’t Quite Free Yet

Magda Abu-Fadil — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:45:24 PDT

It all seemed so promising. Tunisia rid itself of the shackles that had choked it for 23 years under the oppressive rule of Zine El Abdine Ben Ali and the media started breathing easier when journalists, bloggers and activists of all stripes made up for lost time with a vengeance. But since that unforgettable December 2010 when Mohammad Bouazizi set himself ablaze to protest being roughed up by a policewoman and died of his burns, it’s been a bumpy ride for Tunisian media and there was still no light at the end of the tunnel at press-time.

Teaching Converged Media to Arab Students: University/external partnerships in social media campaigns

Cathy Strong — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:20:17 PDT

Although many students are proficient in using social media among friends, they are not necessarily proficient in using it professionally. On the other hand, organizations are struggling with using social media to get important information to younger people. They lack the resources and sometimes the experience to produce content for the social media sites. The solution for organizations is to rely on graduates of today’s communication programs. Educators face the task of merging professional communication skills and new media applications to extend students beyond what they already know from personal use of social media. This paper describes a model to teach social media content skills to Arab students in the United Arab Emirates. The model relies on the educational theory of scaffolding and meets the needs of Arab learners working within a collectivistic and high-context culture as outlined by Ahmad Al-Issa.

An Andragogical Approach to Developing Dialogic Learning through Wikis

Brian J. Bowe — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 23:10:17 PDT

This article examines the effectiveness of using wikis for collaborative projects in college journalism classrooms, with the principles of andragogy as a framework. The use of wikis in two journalism courses at a large university in the American Midwest illustrates how wikis can encourage learners to become more self-directed by engaging in online collaborative writing about how best to produce reports about diverse populations. Two case studies are related to journalistic best practices in the coverage of two sensitive topics: Islam and immigration. The content of these wikis was compiled into best-practices documents that informed the students’ subsequent coursework. The documents were also published online for use in classrooms and newsrooms, offering a “real world” audience for the work. This article provides educators with an outline for engaging students in similar projects to improve their application skills as well as critical thinking.

Social networking sites: Expatriate and National users in an emerging market

Donelda S. McKechnie — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 22:55:15 PDT

This study addressed the literature gap about users of social networking sites in an eastmeets- west setting with specific attention to expatriates and the country’s Nationals.Dubai is the fieldwork location. Previous studies typically focused on a narrowly defined age group for the respondent sample, and little attention has been directed towards nationality. This exploratory study considered demographics, i.e., age, nationality, gender and length of time living in Dubai as well as purpose of use and views about privacy. Following the literature review, two in-depth interviews from industry and two focus groups informed the development of the questionnaire. After pre-testing, the survey was distributed at seven venues around the city to obtain a population cross-section. Two hundred and fiftyfour usable surveys were received from social networking site users. This exploratory study identified that expatriates appear to use social networking sites as a familial link rather than a tool for communication. Comparisons for purpose and privacy noted differences across age, nationality, gender, and years lived in Dubai. Research about social networking site use and users is still in its infancy. The sites appear to hold strong appeal for expatriates far from home and nationals who are distanced from others by society’s cultural and religious values. Future research may seek to understand expatriate use with more in-depth attention to nationality segments.

Socially Responsible Journalism - The Kerala Model

Swapna Koshy — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 22:40:21 PDT

Though the Indian diaspora is scattered all over the world, the GCC countries have a remarkably high presence of Indian expatriates. The number of Non Resident Indians or NRIs in the GCC alone is an astounding six million (Shamnad, 2011). Unlike in the US, UK, Canada and other favourite NRI destinations, NRIs in the GCC countries are mainly from the southern Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu with Kerala the main contributor. The favoured destination for Keralites in the Arabian Gulf is the UAE. In 2007 42 percent of emigrants from Kerala chose to work in the UAE (Zachariah and Rajan, 2007). Along with the states of Punjab and Gujarat, Kerala has for centuries engaged in trade with far-away lands. In the early 20th century there was a considerable influx into Ceylon and Malaysia. Most of the emigrants were semi-skilled workers who picked up jobs in tea and rubber plantations. In the mid 1970s the Arabian Gulf emerged as a favourite destination for job seekers. Professionals - especially nurses, teachers, doctors and IT specialists - from Kerala have sought occupation in Germany, US, UK and various African countries for decades (Samuel, 2011). The

Social Construction of Reality Television: An Analysis of Print Journalism Coverage of All-American Muslim

Mariam F. Alkazemi — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 22:05:16 PDT

Understandably, the perception of Muslims in America was negative after September 11, 2001. Immediately after the terrorist attacks, scholars sought to understand the impact of the media coverage on perceptions of Muslim Americans. Nisbet and Shanahan (2004) found that less than a third of Americans felt that Islamic values were similar to Christian values. This study analyzes 271 articles from American newspapers and news wires covering the television show All-American Muslim, which was canceled after one season on The Learning Channel (TLC) (Goldberg, 2012).

Peeking Through the Looking Glass: A Comparative Analysis of Women, Politics and Media in Lebanon and Bulgaria

Elza Iborscheva — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 21:40:19 PDT

Among the challenges women around the world face today, one of the biggest is the masculinization of democracy, as it has been identified in the literature on women’s empowerment and political representation. Expressed in the underlining “manly” face of the democratic transition, this social phenomenon is defined by an increasingly gendered political discourse, which is also ubiquitously masculine in tone and visual manifestation. In emerging democracies, democratization and marketization are, and by definition have been, launched to the detriment of women through an increased separation of the public and private spheres and a polarization of sex roles.

Audience engagement in the Middle East press: An exploration of “networked journalism” amid the new media landscape

Matt J. Duffy — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 19:10:15 PDT

Many news outlets no longer stop with the simple publication of an article or a broadcast report, but actively engage the audience. For instance, the British newspaper The Guardian recently issued social media guidelines for its reporters, encouraging them to enter into conversations with the audience via Twitter and Facebook. Other news outlets have adopted methods that allow readers to help direct the news. Al Jazeera English regularly asks its audience to submit questions for guests and also broadcasts user-created videos offering commentary. CNN’s iReport project invites viewers to contribute their own raw footage of events and, occasionally, structured news reports taken from cell phones, Flip cameras, and other portable devices. Some outlets have engaged in crowdsourcing, in which audience members are asked to help provide information about an event. Journalism observers have called this new paradigm “networked journalism,” defined by the audience’s participatory role in actively shaping the news. Building on other research on networked journalism, this paper explores how several Middle Eastern newspapers, both English and Arabic, have chosen to embrace the new media landscape. A qualitative review of each news outlet’s new media activities—particularly on their websites, Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages—reveals to what extent and to what benefit they have embraced “networked journalism.” The paper concludes with suggestions for improving audience engagement as well as highlighting best known practices of networked journalism.

MEME 2012: Introduction and Table of Contents

Alma Kadragic — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 18:55:16 PDT

Cover pages, table of contents and editorial introduction to Middle East Media Educator, Issue 2, August 2012.

Conference report: Covering Science and Religion in the Middle East, June 23, 2011, American University of Sharjah

Alma Kadragic — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:43:18 PDT

Recently, I attended a session of the conference Belief in Dialogue: Science, Culture and Modernity at the American University of Sharjah, organized by the British Council, in partnership with the University in association with the International Society of Science and Religion. Billed as a media roundtable, the session closed the three-day conference that included scholars from Europe, North America, UK, Asia, and the Middle East discussing how science and religion might be reconciled in an Islamic context and in the context of other religions.

Conference report: The Role of Media in Arab Societies, June 14, 2011, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi

Alma Kadragic — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:41:00 PDT

What’s going on today in the Arab world is an evolution of media to match the revolutions in some countries and stirrings of civic society in others. That became very clear at the recent conference The Role of Media in Arab Societies held at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and co sponsored by the German think tank Konrad Adenauer Stiftung.

The Communicative Roles of Saba the Wind in Hafez’s Poetry

Ali Asghar Kia — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:38:44 PDT

Many natural elements are present in Hafez’ poetry, one of which is Saba Wind. From the viewpoint of communication sciences, Saba Wind demonstrates the components and concepts of a communication process. Saba Wind has many communicative roles in Hafez’ poetry: an informed source; a sender giving information; it conveys the message; as a channel, it transmits concepts and messages; it is sometimes a harbinger; it receives messages; it shapes meaning in the mind of the receiver. Performing case studies of Hafez’ poems and comparing and contrasting these cases resulted in a tree diagram which shows that Saba Wind plays six major roles consisting of eight subcategories. Analyzing the communicative roles of Saba Wind, this paper is intended to investigate the quality and degree of its roles.

Reporting Religion beyond the Conflict Frame

Eric Loo — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:34:28 PDT

Perhaps if journalists were more educated and experienced in the universal teachings of Christ, Muhammad, Siddharta, and Baha’ulah, we would see more enlightened coverage of religionrelated issues from environmental conservation, world hunger, and poverty to sectarian conflicts, population displacement, and fair trade. Add to this utopian state of journalism the philosophies of Gandhi, Gibran, Plato, Confucius and Ibn Sina1 - the media might be much richer in its coverage of ethno-religious affairs. Which is attainable – if journalists take time to reflect on alternative methods of reporting when, amid fast breaking news and competition to be first with the stories online, accuracy in content and context is occasionally compromised for immediacy. The unintended consequence is the homogenization of media coverage of world affairs, a tendency to report what everyone else is reporting. This reflective article shows examples of how the homogenization of religion-related issues occurs in today’s journalism. It concludes with a few proactive journalism models to take reporting of religion beyond the dominant conflict frame.

The Pearl Project: Key Findings

Barbara Feinman Todd — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:34:27 PDT

The Daniel Pearl case is a window into several serious issues that have relevance today to U.S. foreign policy and America’s war in Afghanistan: the emergence of a “Punjabi Taliban,” made up of militants from the Pakistani province of Punjab; the role of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, as a safe haven for militants; and the nexus between the Pakistani militancy and Al Qaeda. The case also offers important lessons related to problems with rule of law in Pakistan.

Using the Pearl Project to Develop Investigative Reporters

Peyman Pejman — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:25:13 PDT

After hooded terrorists ruthlessly beheaded The Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002, there was only one thing on the mind of his Washington bureau colleague Asra Nomani: How to finish the story for which Pearl had paid with his life and how to find and bring his killers to justice. Pearl had gone to Pakistan to follow up on a story that ran earlier in another U.S. daily, The Boston Globe, that claimed the facilitator of the “shoe bomber” Richard Reid was in Pakistan. British-born Reid is serving a life sentence without parole in a U.S. jail on terrorism charges after he tried to detonate explosives in his shoe to bring down a trans Atlantic flight. But Nomani had a problem; you might say a mighty problem: She was going to do this as an independent project, not connected with the Journal. She needed money; she needed a home for the project; and, equally important, she needed help to carry out a gigantic investigation.

Group Work Teaches Freshmen to Communicate

Swapna Koshy — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:21:00 PDT

Group assignments have been used in university education for decades. However, their effectiveness in teaching communication skills to a class of freshmen from diverse educational cultures was a point of concern. This paper studies the effect of a group project on the learning habits and outcomes of freshmen students. Group assignments should be devised to promote collaborative learning and should not make the work easier. Especially with young students the instructor has to actively monitor groups’ progress and ensure that work is divided equally to maximize learning for every group member.

Review. The Abaya Chronicles: An Abaya-Clad Perspective

Maitha Al-Mehairbi — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:18:46 PDT

As the final assignment in our journalism course at Zayed University, our professor, Tina Lesher, asked us, her “banaat” [Arabic for girls] as she often called us, to interview an Emirati woman at least a generation older. Briskly, I threw together a 4-page report about my oldest sister. Of course, knowing Professor Lesher was a Fulbright scholar who made no secret of her intentions of researching the lives of Emirati women, I was naturally suspicious and gave my sister an alias. The result: “Great work, Maitha. That lady you interviewed, Deema Abdalla… it’s one of the best I’ve read so far.”