Middle East Media Project
Project Director:
Gordon Robison
The Middle East Media Project was funded by a grant from the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy. This project examined core issues at the intersection of media and public diplomacy in the Middle East. The project aimed to answer the following questions: How do the Arab and western media interact and perceive each other? How are U.S. foreign policy goals promoted to and perceived by people in the Middle East? And most importantly, what sort of new initiatives could be effective in deepening mutual understanding between the Arab and western worlds? Specific areas under study included the rebuilding of Iraqi television.
The project was directed by USC Annenberg School Senior Fellow Gordon Robison, a journalist based in Amman, Jordan. For the duration of the project, Mr. Robison maintained a blog series (archived below) on media developments in the Middle East.
- August 23, 2005: Whither the Arab Street? (PDF)
- July 26, 2005: Education: An American Growth Industry in the Arab World (PDF)
- July 6, 2005: Flying Under the Radar: US Cultural Diplomacy in the Middle East (PDF)
- July 1, 2005: The Promise of New Technologies in the Arab World (PDF)
- June 5, 2005: The Rest of Arab Television (PDF)
- May 5, 2005: Tasting Western Journalism: Media Training in the Middle East (PDF)
- April 5, 2005: Universal Ethics? (PDF)
- October 4, 2004: Rebuilding Iraqi Television: A Personal Account (PDF)