Table Of ContentNational Broadcasting and State Policy in
Arab Countries
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National Broadcasting
and State Policy in
Arab Countries
Edited by
Tourya Guaaybess
Assistant Professor, University of Clermont-Ferrand and Researcher,
Laboratory of Communication and Politics at CNRS, France
Introduction, selection and editorial matter © Tourya Guaaybess 2013
Individual chapters © Contributors 2013
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this
work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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Contents
List of Tables vii
Acknowledgements viii
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction: A Return to the National Perspective 1
Tourya Guaaybess
1 Broadcasting Transitions in the United Arab Emirates 13
Muhammad I. Ayish
2 Television Reform in Saudi Arabia: The Challenges of
Transnationalization and Digitization 28
Marwan M. Kraidy
3 The Other Face of Qatari TV Broadcasting 42
Hugh Miles
4 Reforming Egypt’s Broadcasting in the Post-25 January Era:
The Challenges of Path Dependence 49
Tourya Guaaybess
5 The Lebanese Broadcasting System: A Battle between
Political Parallelism, Commercialization and
De-f acto Liberalism 69
Sarah El Richani
6 Syrian Television Drama: A National Industry in a
Pan- Arab Mediascape 83
Christa Salamandra
7 ‘We Cannot Let it Loose’: Geopolitics, Security and
Reform in Jordanian Broadcasting 96
Naomi Sakr
8 Tunisian Media under the Authoritarian Structure of
Ben Ali’s Regime and After 117
Joan Barata
v
vi Contents
9 Liberalization of the Moroccan Broadcasting Sector:
Breakthroughs and Limitations 131
Aârab Issiali
10 Libyan Broadcasting under al- Qadhafi: The Politics of
Pseudo-Liberalization 150
Carola Richter
11 Algerian Public Authorities in the Face of Transnational
Media Competition: Between Status Quo and
Deregulation 166
Belkacem Mostefaoui
12 Towards a Supranational Analysis of Arab Media:
The Role of Cities 188
Joe F. Khalil
Conclusion 209
Tourya Guaaybess
Index 215
List of Tables
1.1 U AE national broadcasters 17
1.2 N ational Identity Index in broadcast media 22
1.3 N ational Identity Index in selected radio programmes 22
1.4 N ational Identity Index in selected television
programmes 23
5.1 O wners and religious or political affiliations of Lebanese
channels 71
9.1 N ew licences granted by the HACA in 2006 143
12.1 Media cities spectrum 199
12.2 Economic free-z one media cities in Dubai, Egypt
and Jordan 200
12.3 TECOM profile 202
vii
Acknowledgements
The study of national Arab broadcasting through the prism of states’
policies (and vice versa) was a long- standing project. Though I was
convinced that such a comparative study was necessary for scholars
and students, I also knew that it required – due to its breadth – far
more than the competencies of just one researcher.
The present book owes a lot to the authors, and my deepest
gratitude goes to them for their professionalism, their enthusiasm,
and the swiftness with which they responded from the onset to the
completion of the book.
It is also a pleasure to thank Elias for his support and constant
encouragement.
I would like to express my gratitude to Felicity Plester and Catherine
Mitchell at Palgrave Macmillan for their patience, their reliability
and their rigour at all times during these past two years. I would also
like to thank an anonymous referee for his/her encouragement and
for the relevant comments and suggestions which helped further
improve the book. Finally, I feel very grateful to Monica Kendall for
her effective editorial work, and her comments, on the manuscript.
viii
Notes on Contributors
Muhammad I. Ayish is currently Professor of Mass Communication
at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. He holds a doctoral
degree in international communication and public diplomacy from
the University of M innesota- Twin Cities (1986). He has taken up
academic posts at several universities in Jordan and the United Arab
Emirates, including Dean of Communication at the University of
Sharjah, UAE (2002–8). He has over 70 journal articles and book
chapters published in international books and journals on Arab
broadcasting, women and media, media and politics and new tech-
nologies. His most recent book, co-edited with Shakuntala Rao, is
Explorations in Global Media Ethics (2012).
Joan Barata is a Professor of Communication Law and Vice Dean
of International Relations at Blanquerna Communication School,
Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona. He was previously a professor
at the University of Barcelona (2001–5) and the Universitat Pompeu
Fabra (2010–11). He has been a professor at the Open University of
Catalonia since 1997, as well as a visiting scholar at the University
of Bologna (2003) and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law,
New York (2003–4). His writings and research interests include
topics such as freedom of speech, media regulation, public s ervice
broadcasting and political and legal media transitions. He has
provided assistance to several institutions and organizations r egarding
these issues in countries such as Thailand, Morocco, Tunisia,
Lebanon, Jordan, Albania, Hungary, Dominican Republic, Colombia
and the United States. He has been Head of the President’s Cabinet
(2005–9) and General Secretary of the Catalonia Audiovisual Council
(2009–11). He has also provided assistance to the OSCE (2004) and
the Council of Europe (2012).
Sarah El Richani is a doctoral student researching the Lebanese
media system from a comparative perspective at the University of
Erfurt. Sarah obtained her MA in Journalism from the University of
Westminster courtesy of the Quintin Hogg Scholarship and her BA
in English Literature and Philosophy from the American University of
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