Arab Media Research Articles

المؤسسات الصحفیة المصریة والتحدیات التشریعیة للعصر الرقمی مؤسسة دار التحریر نموذجا

هدفت الدراسة محاولة کشف حجم تأثير الجوانب التشريعية والقانونية على عمل المؤسسات الإعلامية في مصر من خلال وصف وتحليل ونقد وتقويم أداء مؤسسة دار التحرير للنشر والتوزيع في ظل النصوص الدستورية الموجودة في دستور 2014 والقوانين المکملة له التي صدرت في مصر وبحث کيف تأثرت الجوانب الصحفية والإدارية والسياسية والاقتصادية والمالية لهذه المؤسسة بعمل هذه النصوص وتلک القوانين سعيا لقياس الحجم النسبي للجوانب التشريعية في عمل المؤسسات الإعلامية في ظل تحديات العصر الرقمي ، واستخدمت الدراسة أداة تحليل المضمون ، واداة بحث المجموعة الدراسية المستهدفة ، وخلصت الي أن : القوانين التى تضبط عمل النظام الاعلامى توازن بين العام والخاص وتمنع الاحتکار .وتضع في اعتبارها تجارب الماضى وتحديات الحاضر وضرورات المستقبل الرقمى ، القيم الاخبارية التى تضبط عمل المؤسسات الاعلامية ،ووضع قيم اعلامية عربية تنبع من المعادلات الثقافية للمجتمعات العربية ، مواثيق الشرف التى تضبط اداء العاملين فى المؤسسات الاعلامية ، وتهدف جماعات مکافحة التحيز الى خلق وعى عام بانواع التحيزات الاعلامية . Abstract The study aimed to try to uncover the magnitude of the influence of the legislative and legal aspects on the work of media institutions in Egypt by describing, analyzing, criticizing and evaluating the performance of the Dar Al Tahrir Foundation for Publishing and Distribution in light of the constitutional texts found in the 2014 Constitution and the laws that complement it issued in Egypt. He discussed how the press, administrative, political, economic and financial aspects of this institution were affected by the work of these texts and laws in an effort to measure the relative size of the legislative aspects in the work of media institutions in light of the challenges of the digital age. The study used the content analysis tool and the target study group research tool. I concluded that: The laws that control the work of the media system balance between the public and the private and prevent monopoly, and take into account the experiences of the past, the challenges of the present and the necessities of the digital future, the news values ​​that control the work of media institutions, and the establishment of Arab media values ​​that stem from the cultural equations of Arab societies, the codes of honor that It controls the performance of workers in media organizations, and anti-bias groups aim to create public awareness of types of media biases.

Understanding the ideological construction of the Gulf crisis in Arab media discourse: A critical discourse analytic study of the headlines of Al Arabiya English and Al Jazeera English

This article investigates the ideologisation of Arab media discourse and takes as a case in point the ideological construction of the Gulf crisis in the headlines of Al Arabiya English and Al Jazeera English. A corpus of 515 headlines produced between May and June 2017 is examined using an interdisciplinary critical discourse analytic framework. Analysis is conducted at two levels: a textual level concerned with the analysis of the semantic and syntactic aspects of headlines and a socio-cognitive level informed by insights from Van Dijk’s ideological square concept and his mental model theory and Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. Findings indicate that both platforms are ideologically biased toward the political perspectives of their host states, although in a lesser degree in Al Jazeera English, and also reveal the various discursive strategies used to construct subjective mental models and reference frames to guide readers understanding of the crisis.

Mao’s Homeworld(s) – A comment on the use of propaganda posters in post-war China

AbstractWithin cognitive science, narratives are regarded as crucial and fundamental cognitive instruments or tools. As Roger Schank suggests, the identity of (sub-)cultures is to a considerable extent based upon the sharing of narrative structures (Schank. 1995.Tell me a story: Narrative and intelligence. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.). According to Schank, culturally shared stories, as do many other stories, occur frequently in highly abbreviated form, as “skeleton stories” or “gists.” Collective identities are conveyed in and between cultures not only through verbal discourse, but also by pictorial means. Many pictures and visual artworks have indeed been produced in order to establish and to consolidate a home-culture and to demarcate it from conceived extra-cultural counterparts.Some of my previous work on these lines has been concerned with demarcation efforts in visual media of “Jews” as extra-cultural, since the Middle Ages onwards, in the Third Reich’s iconography, as well as in modern, radicalized forms of anti-Semitic picturing in Arab media (Ranta. 2016. The (pictorial) construction of collective identities in the Third Reich.Language and Semiotic Studies2(3). 107–124, Ranta. 2017. Master narratives and the (pictorial) construction of otherness: Anti-semitic images in the Third Reich and beyond.Contemporary Aesthetics15.https://contempaesthetics.org/newvolume/pages/article.php?articleID=765(accessed 17 November 2019.). In building upon and extending this work, I shall focus in the current paper upon attempts of creating cultural and political cohesion by means of pictorial propaganda in post-war China from the early 1950’s onwards, as promoted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the leadership by Mao Zedong. Some concrete pictorial examples indicating these attempts will be discussed from a narratological and cultural semiotic perspective.

A Field Study of Arab Data Journalism Practices in the Digital Era

ABSTRACT This research paper presents an analysis of the state of data journalism practice in the Arab world through the use of the field theory approach. It is based on the analyzed results from a survey of Arab journalists conducted by the Arab Data Journalists Network (ADJN) in 2017. This paper discusses the factors affecting the practice and development of Arab data journalism. It sheds light on the potentials and challenges of practicing data journalism in the Arab world, especially in terms of required resources as well as the cultural, socioeconomic, and institutional context in the Arab journalism ecosystem. As an indication of a clear interest in this field, a significant amount of Arab journalists are interested in applying for data journalism training and fellowships. However, the business model of most Arab media organizations, which struggle from certain financial or political agendas, makes these organizations less interested in upgrading the quality of their content provided to their audience. Accordingly, they do not care about adopting new methods in presenting in-depth and data-driven content. This study concludes with a theoretical model regarding the state of data journalism in Arab countries and suggests several applicable ways to develop data journalism practices and education.

The Representation of Women in Arab Media: Evidence From Jordan’s News Agency (PETRA) in 2017

Arab women have recently made significant achievements in the fields of science and education in addition to contributing to political, social, and economic aspects. Despite so, they still face different obstacles and have limited opportunities to take leading positions in the Arab community. This study uses a corpus of 1329 articles (562,501 words) published by Jordan News Agency (PETRA) to examine how women are defined and constructed in 2017. Carrying out a Critical Discourse Analysis qualitative analysis and Corpus Linguistic quantitative analysis, the researcher found that although Jordan is making progress with regard to women’s rights, women are still seen as a weak part in the society. The article concludes that representing women as dominated party helps to perpetuate negative stereotypes.

Egypt’s media system: historic legacies and blocked potentials for independent media

Egypt’s media system: historic legacies and blocked potentials for independent media

Sexual health services in the Arab region: Availability, access, and utilisation

ABSTRACTSexual health is shaped by cultural, economic, and social norms in society. In the Arab region, cultural sensitivities and taboos surrounding sexuality are prominent and may prevent individuals from accessing and utilising sexual health services. It is important to map out available sexual health services to identify the challenges in availability, access, and treatment, and determine opportunities for improvement. We collected data on sexual health services through (1) relevant published and unpublished literature, (2) Arab media which included forums, websites, blogs and posts, and online surveys conducted in the Arab region, (3) a questionnaire emailed to sexual and reproductive health experts, organisations, clinics, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), (4) phone and in-person formal and informal interviews with sexual health experts in the field, and (5) advice and recommendations from sexual health experts attending a World Health Organization (WHO) consultation meeting in Dubai related to sexual health in the Arab region. Although there is significant progress when it comes to the availability and provision of sexual health services in Arab countries, there is still a lot to be done to ensure that appropriate needs are met. This study discusses the implication of findings to inform programme and policy implementation in the region.

ظاهرة الترفیه السیاسیPolitainment فی الصحافة الیومیة:

شکلت ظاهرة الترفيه السياسي Politainment واقع الاعلام الغربي والعربي وبدأت تحتاج الصحافة المطبوعة والصحف اليومية. وليست هذه الظاهرة بالحديثة وانما تجلت تجليات جديدة في ظل البيئة الاعلامية المتجددة والواقع الجديد الذي رسمته مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي وتکنولوجيا الاتصال. وتعني ظاهرة الترفيه السياسي الدمج بين الجوانب السياسية والجوانب الترفيهية في الموضوعات التي تتناولها وسائل الاعلام. وقد حددت هذه الدراسة ثلاثة محاور رئيسية لتحليل الترفيه السياسي في الصحافة اليومية وقامت بتطبيقها بالتحليل على عينة من الصحف المصرية والألمانية. وتتمثل هذه المحاور في: أولا: الشخصنة والتي تعني الترکيز على الجانب الشخصي لمحتوى الإعلام السياسي، وتخصيص المحتوى الإعلامي، وإيجاد حالة من الألفة من خلال المحتوى المقدم على نحو يجعل القاريء يشعر بالقرب النفسي من الساسة، إلى جانب التحديد والتمييز باستخدام الشخصيات المعروفة والأحداث الشهيرة کمصدر للمعلومات. ثانيا: استخدام الاستمالات العاطفية والدراماتيکية من خلال الترکيز على الجوانب العاطفية لمحتوى الإعلام السياسي، مع اللجوء إلى الإثارة في عرض المحتوى، وإيجاد حالة من التعاطف مع الفاعلين السياسيين والأحداث السياسية، والتجسيد الدرامي لهذه الأحداث. وأخيرا، استخدام لغة صحافة التابليود والتبسيط وذلک من خلال تبسيط المحتوى المقدم عند کتابته وتحديده، واستخدام اللغة العامية لتحقيق شعبية أعلى. Abstract Politainment in dailies: a comparative study between German and Egyptian newspapers Politainment is a new phenomenon in the Western as well as the Arab media landscape. Politainment is defined as the merge between the political and entertaining content. This study aims at providing an analysis of stories in Egyptian and German daily newspapers through looking at Personalisation, Tablobization and Emotionalization.

Journalist Use of Social Media: Guidelines for Media Organizations

Basic journalistic tenets such as transparency, gatekeeping and objectivity were considered at risk due to the rise of use of social media by journalists and news media. Resultantly, large numbers of news agencies have started issuing provisions and guidelines for their staff to manage their social media use. This study explores the complex relationship of selected news organizations with given use of social media. The content analysis is applied on the guidelines for the use of social media obtained from 12 news organizations, and their link with basic journalism principles is explored. The key purpose of the current study is to provide insight for scholars and Arab media management to have better understanding of journalists use of social media and how these guidelines are implemented by various leading news agencies. Practically, the observations in the study are helpful for news organizations who are defining their provisions or rules for social media use by their journalists.

Journalist Use of Social Media: Guidelines for Media Organizations.

Basic journalistic tenets such as transparency, gatekeeping and objectivity were considered at risk due to the rise of use of social media by journalists and news media. Resultantly, large numbers of news agencies have started issuing provisions and guidelines for their staff to manage their social media use. This study explores the complex relationship of selected news organizations with given use of social media. The content analysis is applied on the guidelines for the use of social media obtained from 12 news organizations, and their link with basic journalism principles is explored. The key purpose of the current study is to provide insight for scholars and Arab media management to have better understanding of journalists use of social media and how these guidelines are implemented by various leading news agencies. Practically, the observations in the study are helpful for news organizations who are defining their provisions or rules for social media use by their journalists.

In the Heart of the Storm: How Al Jazeera is Contributing to Changing the Gulf and the World

This paper is based on the central thesis that Al Jazeera is the core of the current Gulf crisis, not terrorism or any other issue of concern to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and Egypt. The regimes of these countries seem to have realized that public awareness, through socially responsible media enterprises, such as Al Jazeera, will change the political dynamics in the region (to the detriment of the ruling elites). The paper will trace back the impact of Al Jazeera during the Arab Spring in brief. Subsequently, it will discuss the socioeconomic conditions that preceded Al Jazeera’s contribution to the Arab Spring. It will then discuss the role of Al Jazeera in showing and magnifying news stories untouched by any Arab media prior to the advent of this medium. Al Jazeera claims to be “the voice of the voiceless!” While Al Jazeera doesn’t give voice to “all” the voiceless, we believe this claim to be largely true, as it was clearly proven during the Arab Spring. Al Jazeera has been a powerful voice to many of the voiceless and a platform for transformative change. It has reported on the socio-economic miseries of Tunisians and helped spark the revolution in Tunisia after Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest. Al Jazeera has been doing the same about Egypt as its socio-political crises deepens. It has been reporting about the economic miseries of the Egyptians, which earned the ire of the regime in Cairo. Hence the behind the scenes role of Egypt in orchestrating the current Gulf crisis. (A quick discourse analysis of Al Sisi’s address during the American Islamic summit in Riyadh of late makes it clear that Qatar was its main target. And, Al Jazeera is the main target within this target.) The paper will also discuss, in brief, the broader impact of Al Jazeera on reconstructing not only the Gulf and regional political dynamics, but also its impact on redefining global communication ethics. The paper will use discourse and framing analyses of Al Jazeera content to prove its main thesis. Keywords: Al Jazeera, Arab Gulf, Qatar Blockade, Arab Spring, Networked Journalism, Public Diplomacy

Leadership, gender and the Arab media: a perception study of female journalists in Egypt

ABSTRACTThis article examines the factors contributing to the under-representation of women leaders in the Egyptian media. Whilst a plethora of research exist on women in the Arab media in general, very few have so far examined the extent of women’s representation in top media management positions particularly in Egypt. Based on empirical insights from 40 key informant interviews, this article finds that in their quest to become top media managers, Egyptian women journalists encounter a two-dimensional uphill battle—institutional and social discrimination. Institutional discrimination is evident in the absence of a legal and organizational environment to encourage women leadership. This includes a notable wage gap, gendered work relations, and difficulty maintaining a work–life balance. Social discrimination is practised against women journalists outside newsrooms, more specifically within their home environments, where they have to battle patriarchal social norms.

50 days of war on innocent civilian: Ma’an news agency coverage of Israeli and Palestinian conflict

Since the TV broadcasting was established in Arab countries until the 1990s, broadcasting during this specific time was based on a government control model, which derived from the view of broadcasting as an instrument of state advance that must be under the control from government. This kind of TVs, limits the broadcasting to highlight the government issue (1). In these kind of TVs, they focus with the leader’s opinion more than the Palestinian problem. By the way, the theme in Arab media determined to highlight the leader’s opinion who claims the right to speak on behalf of Palestinians. In September 1991, the first private TV in the Arab world was established when MBC went on the air from London. More private TVs followed after that like: Orbit in 1994 and ART in 1995, both based in Italy owned by Saudi businessmen, Future Television and LBC, both Lebanese based in Beirut, in 1995, and Al-Jazeera based in Qatar in 1996. In 2002 the number of the Arab TV stations was expanded to more than 150 TVS as government or privately owned, with capability of reaching the Arab people in any place in the world. This paper focuses on the media coverage of the conflict between two parties Palestine and Israel. The preview studies show that, in a conflict the media has an influential role and has responsibility for increasing violence or contributing to the resolution of conflict and mitigation of violence (2). This study examined 61 news coverage and framing of the Israel and Palestine conflict, known as the 50 days’ war from 8 July – 26 August 2014 by Ma’an News Agency, which delivers news to Ma’an TV (Palestinian satellite television station). A quantitative content analysis was employed to examine the news published during the war using five generic frames developed by (3). Holsti Inter-coder reliability and validity test value is 0.988 or 98% agreement. The results showed that conflict and human-interest frames were significantly visible compared to other frames in Ma’an news coverage. Portrayal of images of civilian killing, children and women killed in their homes and suffrage news coverage, in this war. Responsibility frame stressed on hospitals bombing and embargo of medications which reduced chances for Palestinian of immediate medical help. The economic frame highlighted the economic and financial losses of Palestinians as consequences of 50 days’ war. Most of them lost their income, businesses, agriculture land and homes and became refugees.

50 Days of War on Innocent Civilian: Ma’an News Agency Coverage of Israeli and Palestinian Conflict

Since the TV broadcasting was established in Arab countries until the 1990s, broadcasting during this specific time was based on a government control model, which derived from the view of broadcasting as an instrument of state advance that must be under the control from government. This kind of TVs, limits the broadcasting to highlight the government issue (1). In these kind of TVs, they focus with the leader’s opinion more than the Palestinian problem. By the way, the theme in Arab media determined to highlight the leader’s opinion who claims the right to speak on behalf of Palestinians. In September 1991, the first private TV in the Arab world was established when MBC went on the air from London. More private TVs followed after that like: Orbit in 1994 and ART in 1995, both based in Italy owned by Saudi businessmen, Future Television and LBC, both Lebanese based in Beirut, in 1995, and Al-Jazeera based in Qatar in 1996. In 2002 the number of the Arab TV stations was expanded to more than 150 TVS as government or privately owned, with capability of reaching the Arab people in any place in the world. This paper focuses on the media coverage of the conflict between two parties Palestine and Israel. The preview studies show that, in a conflict the media has an influential role and has responsibility for increasing violence or contributing to the resolution of conflict and mitigation of violence (2). This study examined 61 news coverage and framing of the Israel and Palestine conflict, known as the 50 days’ war from 8 July – 26 August 2014 by Ma’an News Agency, which delivers news to Ma’an TV (Palestinian satellite television station). A quantitative content analysis was employed to examine the news published during the war using five generic frames developed by (3). Holsti Inter-coder reliability and validity test value is 0.988 or 98% agreement. The results showed that conflict and human-interest frames were significantly visible compared to other frames in Ma’an news coverage. Portrayal of images of civilian killing, children and women killed in their homes and suffrage news coverage, in this war. Responsibility frame stressed on hospitals bombing and embargo of medications which reduced chances for Palestinian of immediate medical help. The economic frame highlighted the economic and financial losses of Palestinians as consequences of 50 days’ war. Most of them lost their income, businesses, agriculture land and homes and became refugees.

On naming Arab revolutions and oppositional media narratives

The unfinished Arab revolutions produced unsettling conditions, sectarian wars, counter-revolutionary wars, proxy wars and transitional democracies. US and Arab media responses could not find effective words to describe them and their underlying geopolitical implications. Whether to name them ‘protest’ or ‘unrest’, American mainstream media initially welcomed the events with a cautious curiosity while Arab media favoured a romanticized coverage. But as the protests spread fast and continued, a more dominant popular narrative in the US shaped by the ‘exceptionalist’ perspective about the Middle East emerged. This article explains how dominant discursive framings deployed a form of ‘nature talk’, specifically through names, phrases and locutions such as ‘Arab Spring’, ‘Jasmine revolution’, ‘Arab transition’, and horticultural words like ‘flower’, ‘rose’ and ‘blossom’ to describe the Arab uprisings. Because of an intellectually limiting media-produced racial vernacular during the period of mass protest, this dominant mainstream narrative spoke about the events either by using neo-imperial language that characterized the revolutions as an Islamist threat or by employing culturally reductionist vocabulary which infantilized protesters. The goal here is to place specific media frames and images that such linguistic constructions create and disseminate within the context of power relations, the politics of naming and knowledge production.

Editorial - Media & Crisis

These are unprecedented times. The world as a whole has not experienced crises of the scale and magnitude that we are currently seeing. Perhaps the heightened feelings of fear and aggravation in the face of these crises, and the realization of their consequences, has stemmed in part from the spread of digital media. We are in a new age of information and individual knowledge acquisition, and in this climate, the handling of crises takes on new dimensions where public perceptions shift and evolve; influenced by time, space, and the content consumed. How crises are dealt with is changing demographically and psychologically, reflective of a dialectical situation of knowledge accumulation, and conscious and unconscious interaction with different forms of media. This shift is related to media treatment frameworks for crisis situations and public reception. This often has little to do with the actual severity of the crisis, and more to do with interconnected intermediary variables that lead the audience to react strongly to specific types of crises in one part of the world, while being habituated to these same type of events in another. Arab Media & Society has devoted this 25th edition to discussing the nature and evolution of the relationship between crisis media and the realities on the ground. The studies included in this volume vary in focus in an attempt to map the knowledge of the events discussed and the strengths, limitations, and role of media in crisis situations. It is a comprehensive guide to develop a deeper understanding of an important and current topic.

Shining New Light on the Palestinian Cause: The Unintended Consequences of Trump’s Jerusalem Declaration

A few days before U.S. President Donald Trump declared that America would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a number of Arab heads of state—including the leaders of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian Authority (not yet a state but one in the making since Oslo)—were informed that Trump would be making this declaration. Even before Trump went public, these leaders warned Trump that this was an unwise act and would have negative consequences for the Arab states most involved (publically or privately) in supporting the peace process with Israel. When Trump did go public, Arab media and a variety of political figures and pundits in the region and Europe declared their disappointment, or open opposition, including Pope Francis, the Secretary General of the United Nations, the UN General Assembly, and all members of the UN Security Council, save the United States. If pundits, were prophesying that this declaration would lead to "fire and fury," until now, it has not. On the contrary, the phrase has proven to be a dramatization, as well as a deft cut to Trump's highly sensitive and overpowering ego; Fire and Fury is precisely the title of a very unfavorable biography, denounced by Trump and his limited number of well-known, and therefore quotable, supporters.

The Poetics of Disclosure Narrating the Six-Day War in the Poetry of Nizar Qabbani

Within defined political and aesthetic contexts, the 1967 war poetry was an attempt to re-describe and re-constitute projections of the war in Arab media and popular culture. Repudiating war and its diabolical motives, several Arab poets question and subvert a complex pattern of nationalist myths that gave rise to the 1967 war and sustained it. In this context, the paper explores the provocative war poetry of the great Arab poet, Nizar Qabbani , written in the aftermath of the 1967 war between Israel and three Arab armies. In his denial of the process that aims to obscure the war and bury its atrocities beneath cultural amnesia, Qabbanireveals narratives of trauma and pain demystifying a phenomenon that centuries of history have glorified. Within the parameters of contemporary critical theory, the central argument, in the paper, aims to interrogate the war narratives purveyed by Arab politicians and official state media and their destructive impact on collective Arab memory. The poems, investigated in the paper, aim to engage the politics and the language of war questioning the myths and the monolithic political discourse that triggered the war and paved the way for the defeat.

Reporting the Crisis in Iraq: Media Coverage of the Humanitarian Aid Effort in Kurdistan

Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 41, No. 2, Winter 2018 Reporting the Crisis in Iraq: Media Coverage of the Humanitarian Aid Effort in Kurdistan Ahmed Omar Bali* Rinella Cere* Introduction The Kurds have faced ISIS on the ground by fighting them over a front of about 1400 kilometers, a conflict which has led to the killing of more than a thousand Peshmerga fighters and the injuring of many more. In addition, more than 1.5 million people living in the areas taken over by ISIS have been displaced to Iraqi Kurdistan, as it is the only safe area for 85 *Ahmed Omar Bali earned his Ph.D. in media and communication from Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom. He is the head of the Diplomacy and Public Relations Department and a lecturer at the University of Human Development; he is a visiting lecturer at Sulaimani Polytechnic University in Iraqi Kurdistan. He teaches on Public Diplomacy, Principle of Public Relations, Media and Public Opinion, Methodology. His recent publications include: “The consequence of an economic boom on the perception of democracy, government performance and public service: Iraqi Kurdistan as a case study,” International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, 2017; “The role of communication technology in fighting administrative corruption,” Journal of Human Development, 2017; “The attitude of Kurdish elite toward The Arab media discourse-Aljazeera as an example,” Journal of Human Development, 2017; “The Six-Day War and Its Impact on Arab and Israeli Conflict,” Journal of History Research, 2017. E-mail: ahmed.abdullah@uhd.edu.iq *Rinella Cere is a Reader in Media and Cultural Studies at Sheffield Hallam University. She teaches on European and international media, globalisation and the media, and postcolonial media cultures. She teaches on European and international media, globalisation and the media, and postcolonial media cultures. She has co-edited with Rosalind Brunt the book on Postcolonial Media Culture in Britain and recent publications include chapters for the edited collection Postcolonial Studies Meets Media Studies. A Critical Encounter (Transcript Verlag, 2016) and for Representing Communities. Discourse and Contexts (Palgrave 2017). E-mail: r.cere@shu.ac.uk 86 all the different ethnic and religious backgrounds1 . Those displaced are estimated to represent 25 per cent of the population of Iraqi Kurdistan. The population of Iraqi Kurdistan is nearly 5 million. The withholding of the budget allocated by the central government in Baghdad to Kurdistan, has in turn led to a deepening of the economic crisis. After the fall of Saddam’s regime in 2003 aided by the USA and its allies, Iraq faced a political and administrative vacuum. The United States began to involve those Iraqi political parties which had been in opposition to the Saddam’s regime. These political parties can be classified on the basis of ethnic sects and religious backgrounds, namely the Shia Arabs, the Sunni Arabs and The Kurds. With the establishment of the new Iraqi regime, the Shia dominated the Baghdad government, as “Iraq’s majority population is Shia.”2 This new government formation was not recognized by the Sunni constituent, because since the emergence of the Iraqi state, power was in the hands of the Sunni while they constituted just over one quarter of the total Iraqi population.3 After 2006 this arrangement led to violence between the military groups of the Shia and the Sunni factions, The lack of political homogeneity is more likely to cause violence,4 and this was particularly the case for the Iraqi factions5 . With the creation of a new Iraqi Shia-led government, the Sunni were not quite ready to be cooperative and large numbers of them were accused of having affiliation to the former Iraqi regime or Al-Qaeda terrorist groups, which entered Iraq to oppose the Americans and the Baghdad government. Sunni people have faced increasing violence, resulting in many arrests, random killings and taking of hostages.6 This change in the distribution of power led many Sunnis emigrating to foreign countries and in some cases joining the terrorist groups to fight the Shia military.7 The increasing geographical area of influence by ISIS has 1 For more information see the report of “Marked with an ‘x’” Human Rights Watch...

اتجاهات النخبة الإعلامیة الأکادیمیة نحو تأثیر مواقع التواصل الاجتماعی فی استخدامات اللغة العربیة

اتجاهات النخبة الإعلامیة الأکادیمیة نحو تأثیر مواقع التواصل الاجتماعی فی استخدامات اللغة العربیة