The Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives on New Arab Media »

Mohamed Zayani is Associate Professor of critical theory at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. He is the author of Arab Satellite Television and Politics in the Middle East and Reading the Symptom (ECSSR). Currently, he is working on a Social Science Research Council collaborative project on Arab media.

Few phenomena in the Arab world are more controversial than Al Jazeera-the satellite television news channel that, despite its brief history, has made its impact known throughout the world and changed the face of a formerly parochial Arab media.

This timely collection of articles, many by Arabic speaking scholars, gives us more information and analysis of the network-and how it has affected the public and even the foreign policies of Western governments-than any other of the very few books published in English up to now.

The book provides rare insights into Al Jazeera's politics, its agenda, its programs, its coverage of regional crises, and its treatment of the West. The authors attempt to gauge the station's impact on ordinary Arab viewers, understand its effect on an increasingly visible Arab public sphere, and map out the role it plays in regional Arab politics. The image of Al Jazeera that emerges from this book is much more complex than its depiction in American media. It reveals the powerful role that the network plays in shaping ideas and reconstructing Arab identities during a crucial juncture in Middle Eastern history and politics.