Archive for December 2021

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[Commlist] New Issue- (14.2)- Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research

Thu Dec 30 22:39:17 GMT 2021



Noureddine Miladi is pleased to announce the publication of _Issue 14.2_ of the /Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research/ /(JAMMR)/. The journal is an international refereed academic platform, published by Intellect in the UK. You may access the papers of this issue as well as other issues from JAMMR’s homepage.

https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-arab-muslim-media-research

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*_JAMMR: 14.2-_*

Volume (14): Issue (2); December 2021.

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*Kurdish women and TV journalism in Iraqi Kurdistan: Experiences and strategies*

Authors: Marco Nilsson <https://www.intellectbooks.com/marco-nilsson>, Leah Esmaiel <https://www.intellectbooks.com/leah-esmaiel>

DOI: 10.1386/jammr_00036_1

**

*Abstract*

Few studies on female TV journalists in the Middle East have been conducted. Neither have Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts been used to analyse women journalists’ experiences of their professional practice and their strategies for navigating a male-dominated media world in the Middle East. For this unique study, tenKurdish women journalists that work for six different TV stations in Iraqi Kurdistan were interviewed. Informed by different forms of capital, the thematic analysis revealed four themes that capture the respondents’ experiences and strategies: coping with perceptions of pretty dolls and honorary men; coping with the threat of violence and a bad reputation; coping with the gendered distribution of news assignments; tackling glass ceilings and unwritten rules. A particularly interesting result of the study was that while the strategies range from proclaiming any news hard news to openly defying orders from the managers and to claiming that one’s ability to advance depends on having a strong personality, the focus is consistently on individualistic survival strategies. When masculinity and male norms still dominate the contents of symbolic capital, it may result in seemingly counterproductive practices such as the lack of a distinct ‘we’ feeling among women journalists. For women journalists, the cost of transforming their cultural and social capital into symbolic capital that is effective in the journalistic field is affected by both the journalistic field and the society at large, which creates contextually bound obstacles to women journalistsin Iraqi Kurdistan.

**

*Broadcasting and national identity construction in Qatar: The case of Al-Rayyan TV*

Authors: Noureddine Miladi <https://www.intellectbooks.com/noureddine-miladi>, Moez Ben Messaoud <https://www.intellectbooks.com/moez-ben-messaoud>, Jamel Zran <https://www.intellectbooks.com/jamel-zran>

DOI: 10.1386/jammr_00035_1

**

*Abstract: *

This research sought to study the contents of Al-Rayyan TV programmes and their relationship to the construction of national identity in Qatar, a task this channel has taken as an editorial line since its inception in 2012. In this article, we present findings of an audience-based exploration of Al-Rayyan TV’s viewership. Fieldwork data was gathered via a base of 720 survey questionnaires from a sample of Qatari society as well as fifteen interviews conducted with experts and social media activists. The aim was to find out respondents’ views about the role of the channel in promoting Qatari identity and culture.Research questionnaires were managed at intervals between August and November 2020. Fieldwork results showed that the surveyed viewers believe that the channel plays a significant role in preserving Qatari national culture and heritage. However, when it comes to rating Qatari TV channels in order of importance, respondents’ favourite TV broadcaster in terms of news and current affairs programmes was Al Jazeera, followed by beIN Sports, Qatar TV, Al-Rayyan TV and finally Al Kass. Research findings also reveal an evident trend among young Qataris and professionals who find in social media networks the most convenient platforms to view and share content from Al-Rayyan TV. People watch video clips from most popular programmes, such as /Al-Sabah Rabah/, /Umm Rashid/, /Taraheeb/ and /In the Shadows of Doha/, among others, which they receive via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. However, concerns via-à-vis Al-Rayyan TV’s repetitive content and a programme schedule that does not include much entertainment content cannot be missed from viewers’ responses. The dwindling popularity of the channel among Qatari youth is perceived as one such result of its inability to transform itself in the age of digital explosion.

*Egyptian imaginaries of resistance: Cinematic remembrance of the Suez crisis*

Author: Ehab Galal <https://www.intellectbooks.com/ehab-galal>

DOI: 10.1386/jammr_00033_1

**

*Abstract*

Current politics in Egypt has revived the idea of a strong connection between the army, the Egyptian people and its leaders. This imaginary was introduced by Egyptian cinema about the time of the 1952 revolution. In the early days of national independence, the Suez crisis 1956 in particular holds the symbols and images needed to create the set of semantics supporting this imaginary. Based on theories on national and postcolonial imaginaries, I analyse two Egyptian films on the Suez crisis: /Port Said/ from 1957 and /ʿMaliqat al-Bihar/ (/Giants of the Sea/) from 1960 ncluding shorter references to other films from the period. By examining the postcolonial semantics of these films, I identify three elements that together retell the Egyptian nation. First, the Suez crisis is pictured as eliminating the colonial enemies due to the actions of strong leaders. Second, a pan-Arab alliance is installed. Third, enemies from within are disconnected from the true Egyptian assessed by loyalty to the nation. The result is a strong imaginary of the correlation between the army, people and in particular its leaders.

*Living with difference: Ontological security and identification of second-generation members of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham, ‘Little Lagos’, London*

Author: O. B. Alakija <https://www.intellectbooks.com/o-b-alakija>

DOI: 10.1386/jammr_00031_1

*Abstract*

This article presents the impact of digital technologies and small media on the second-generation members of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham (London, United Kingdom). Situated within the larger context of global trends, cultural production and commodification that have become central to contemporary identity articulation, the article argues that cultural production and consumption have become the site of creativity in negotiating multiple attachments for this second-generation offspring of the initial migrants in such a way that living with ‘difference’ has become a part of everyday diasporic experiences. The article shows how second-generation Nigerians in Peckham perform their diasporic identities around the popularity and the inclusion of Afrobeatsmusic, Nollywood films and the representation of ankara clothing styles in the host society and in the global mainstream. It reveals the dialectic interaction between local cultures and global media by showing how digital technologies not only make it possible to connect across space and time but also aid the production of new identities. In contrast to the fear of the older migrants over their perception of non-involvement of young Nigerians in belonging to their homeland,a sense of patriotic pride is demonstrated by their offspring. Insights are drawn from seven-month ethnography of the Nigerian diaspora in Peckham, London. The findings suggest that the inclusion of local artefacts from Nigeria in the host society provides a sense of national pride for the born abroad children in their country of heritage.

*Netflix speaks Arabic, Arabs speak Netflix: How SVOD is transforming Arabic series screenwriting* Authors: Fadi G. Haddad <https://www.intellectbooks.com/fadi-g-haddad>, Alexander Dhoest <https://www.intellectbooks.com/alexander-dhoest>

DOI: 10.1386/jammr_00034_1****

*Abstract*

While subscription of video-on-demand (SVOD) services has become increasingly popular across the world in recent years, the arrival of Netflix to the Arab world was transformational. As it stepped up to produce original Arabic series, Netflix-modelled services from the region proliferated, promising to challenge the existing Arabic series’ (/musalsalat/) routines in content and form. Since the Arab World is scarcely mentioned in the growing scholarly literature on SVODs, this article attempts to understand how the Arabic TV drama industry is recalibrating to this new transnational co-production context, particularly when it comes to developing series ideas and screenplays. Our aim is to analyse the creative interplay in which these ideas and screenplays are evaluated and developed. To this effect, we draw on original interviews with screenwriters, development producers and creative executives who have worked with Netflix on original Arabic series, as well as those who have worked with Shahid VIP, a Saudi-owned pan-Arab SVOD platform. Informed by the ‘Screen Idea System’ framework that suggests a understanding of the dynamics between the shaping elements of any new idea made for the screen, we explore whether the current business model results in certain cultural narratives and how this affects the perceptions of quality and success of the produced series. Our findings show that transnationalism is instigated by the writers’ perception of a transnational target audience, and is reflected strongly on the levels of production and creative decision-making. Moreover, the systems in which the series of both platforms are developed are in constant negotiations with the /musalsalat/ conventions, while aiming to prompt novelty based on a Western perception of the idea of quality.

*Digital communication and Ramadan at the time of COVID-19*

Author: Dario Fanara <https://www.intellectbooks.com/dario-fanara>

DOI: 10.1386/jammr_00032_1 **

*Abstract*

COVID-19 has presented both a health and an information risk with the viral spread of sometimes partial, false or erroneous news. In the Arab region, the media spheres have been saturated with information regarding Coronavirus news. From social and traditional media, Arab audiences have been bombarded with a plethora of information, some of which was confusing and contradictory. As Coronavirus sweeps across the world, many questions have been raised about the possibility of practicing the rites of the month of Ramadan and to observe fasting by Muslims. With the multiplication of the responses from medical staff, doctors of the law and political representatives, COVID-19 has simultaneously become a health, religious, political and ethical problem for the Muslim world.The premise elaborated so far calls for an in-depth research on the return of news on the official Facebook pages of three online magazines during the Coronavirus emergency. The research carries out a qualitative media content analysis of all the news published by three digital ethnic newspapers: The Muslim News (United Kingdom), the Saphir News (France) and the Daily Muslim (Italy).The magazines have undertaken to stem the spread of fake news by offering users data and updates on COVID-19 proposing themselves as authoritative voices and reliable sources of information.Ramadan turns out to be a very central element in the three magazines in different measures, since it is an issue that becomes more and more urgent for the Muslim community as the weeks go by. The centrality of the religious element in the information flows is in line with the centrality of Islam in the individual and community life of the faithful. The health and religious emergency were narrated together providing updates on the daily measures to be put in place. Individuals have been called to face the health emergency stimulated by their sense of responsibility towards the others also through religious principles. Social media have played an important role from religious, cultural and social points of view in one of the most important moments of the year for the Islamic community.

*Arab online news platforms: Innovating language, narratives, audiences and business models. Experiences from Lebanon and Jordan*

Author: Rut Gomez Sobrino <https://www.intellectbooks.com/rut-gomez-sobrino>

DOI: 10.1386/jammr_00037_1

*Abstract: *

This article analyses the rising relevance of online news platforms in the Arab region, particularly those created after the social uprisings that commenced in late 2010 in Tunisia and spread across the southern Mediterranean basin. As the online environment does not contemplate borders, the article refers to the term ‘Arab’, as these initiatives aimed at reaching regional audiences. However, the cases addressed in this article are based only in two countries, Jordan and Lebanon. The research focuses on four specific media start-ups: Raseef22 and Daraj in Lebanon, and 7iber and Sowt in Jordan. The selection of these news platforms integrated in the research exercise was not a simple task as many initiatives of this type were born in the last years such as /Al Jumhuriya/, /MadaMasr/ and Inkyfada just to mention a few. The author has decided to follow objective aspects such as audience rates, business consolidation, external support from partners and the ability to reach new publics, particularly young readers, which were not traditionally engaged in conventional media. The methodology to develop the present article has been based on structured interviews with the editors and/or founders of the analysed news platforms together with an analysis of the content that they produce. Research results demonstrate that despite the challenges and the difficulties to become economically sustainable, as well as the continuous political pressures suffered, these initiatives have been able to build unique narratives of unprecedented nature and innovative business models based on international agreements with global organizations. Therefore, they are becoming transformative drivers of jjournalism and critical thinking across the region, something that was unimaginable just few years ago.

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*Noureddine Miladi (PhD)*

Professor of Media & Communication

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Noureddine_Miladi/contributions <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Noureddine_Miladi/contributions>

*_Editor:_**/JAMMR (refereed journal in Arab media and society)/*

ISSN 1751-9411 <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingentaconnect.com%2Fcontent%2Fintellect%2Fjammr&data=04%7C01%7Cmohamed.elnawawy%40dohainstitute.edu.qa%7C58e8d3a18ea245f9636708d97ac9b0c6%7Cdd2a2bdcb2b94005bbb65a5b635ada77%7C0%7C0%7C637675830401459742%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=aUdE8HBJM0JmlNyLpUxCguyC0DVgCrre6rbwBkNHIDE%3D&reserved=0>(Print); ISSN 1751-942X <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingentaconnect.com%2Fcontent%2Fintellect%2Fjammr&data=04%7C01%7Cmohamed.elnawawy%40dohainstitute.edu.qa%7C58e8d3a18ea245f9636708d97ac9b0c6%7Cdd2a2bdcb2b94005bbb65a5b635ada77%7C0%7C0%7C637675830401459742%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=aUdE8HBJM0JmlNyLpUxCguyC0DVgCrre6rbwBkNHIDE%3D&reserved=0>(Online)

_Abstracted/ Indexed in:_**SCOPUS, Ingenta, EBSCO, US-British Library, ProQuest Summon and ProQuest upload, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Britannica Online Collection, Communication Source

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