Attractive, spunky, and often "in your face," but with a message that one shouldn't be indifferent to what's wrong with the world, and she uses her editorial platform to push hard for change.
It's a daring approach by Aysha Taryam, the 32-year-old editor of the English-language daily The...
1 Comments | Posted January 6, 2012 | 1/6/12
He's back at Al Jazeera in an exalted position, albeit older, perhaps wiser, and a changed person, with memories of his six years and seven months of detention in Guantanamo on charges of being a member of al Qaida, which were later overturned.
"It was a good time for me...
Posted December 28, 2011 | 12/28/11
Steely determination to further her assassinated father's mission and a distaste for sectarian politics puts Nayla Tueni in an odd position, since she's both general manager of Lebanon's Annahar daily and a member of parliament.
She's also an activist working with youth promoting the cause of freedom and...
Posted December 19, 2011 | 12/19/11
Rawan Shamayleh (Twitter handle: @yasmeeneh) from Amman, Jordan, urged conferees at the Salzburg Global Seminar (@salzburgglobal): "Please stop tweeting her picture its (sic) humiliating respect that she's Veiled and wnt 2 remain anonymous."
Aysha Taryam (@ayshataryam), editor of the Sharjah, United Arab Emirates newspaper The Gulf Today, tweeted:...
Posted November 28, 2011 | 11/28/11
Integrating mobile workflows into existing newsrooms is imperative if newspapers are to survive in an age where social and multimedia are beating legacy organizations to the punch and often outpacing them with breaking news.
"For the first time, newspapers are faced with the challenge of developing content that you can...
Posted November 9, 2011 | 11/9/11
Finding people to challenge editors is one of several tips John Robinson offered in praise of ideas by new media thinkers promoting transparency in reporting and the power of new technologies to change how journalism is done.
Today editors need "guts to do the nontraditional things" by considering new approaches...
Posted October 27, 2011 | 10/27/11
"Did TV networks overdo it by airing bloody scenes of Gaddafi's death?"
The headline said it all in a lead article in the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat's media supplement Thursday.

Posted October 7, 2011 | 10/7/11
She's young, irreverent, creative, restless, smart, on a brief hiatus as a blogger, but continues to turn out bitingly hilarious cartoons reflecting her frustrations with Lebanese life.
That's Maya Zankoul (Twitter handle @MayaZankoul), and her pet peeves are women's rights (or the lack thereof), dysfunctional infrastructure, Lebanon's chronic...
Posted September 14, 2011 | 9/14/11
It may seem odd, but a Christian TV network for and by people of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region is expanding its footprint and making inroads despite regional turmoil and fears of rising Islamic fundamentalism.
"We don't attack Islam and present the Christian faith in a positive way, on...
Posted September 7, 2011 | 9/7/11
Diana Moukalled isn't easily daunted by challenges: her career is a testament to Lebanese women who can run programs and production at a TV network, produce and host documentaries, report from the field, and be wives and mothers.
"Seeing the world through the camera, the idea that you're not...
Posted August 21, 2011 | 8/21/11
It's snappy, fast-paced, high-tech, provocative, staffed mostly with young faces, and insists on defying the laws of media gravity.
Lebanon's Murr Television (MTV) news operation is defiant despite repeated assaults on its journalists and a mother station forced to shut down for seven years for political reasons.
...Posted August 1, 2011 | 8/1/11
Lebanon's information minister wants the media to exercise self-censorship to promote stability in a highly sectarian and politicized country despite his government's claims of protecting freedom of expression, and, while much-needed press law reforms languish in parliament.
Information Minister Walid Al Daouk's call for self-restraint shocked journalists and ran contrary...
Posted July 18, 2011 | 7/18/11
Egypt may get a freedom of information law, according to Al Masry Al Youm, but it comes in the wake of renewed harassment of the media and revival of the infamous Information Ministry that was eliminated following the January 25 revolution.
"The proposed law would establish...
Posted July 5, 2011 | 7/5/11
She has no regrets, she looks forward to capitalizing on the many opportunities the Middle East has to offer, and she continues to vigorously promote social media, although it led to her ouster from CNN.
"I'm using a very unique approach to the business," said Octavia Nasr of her
Posted June 27, 2011 | 6/27/11
I'm not a chocaholic, but feasting my eyes on hand-made Swiss chocolate while on a business trip to Zurich was sheer nirvana.
We're talking serious chocolate, the kind made fresh daily by hand in front of admiring aficionados.

Fresh hand-made chocolates...
Posted June 19, 2011 | 6/19/11
The newsroom café concept was music to my ears when Journal Register Company's (JRC) Jonathan Cooper explained how his organization had taken the bold step of engaging its audience.
"The legacy definition of engagement is wrong," said Cooper, JRC's VP for content addressing participants at the
Posted June 5, 2011 | 6/5/11
Whether in the Arab world, facing successive revolutions to oust repressive regimes, or Western countries with press freedom enshrined in their constitutions, a common thread ran through this week's IFEX General Meeting and Strategy Conference: media liberties must be preserved.
Toronto-based IFEX, short for the International...
Posted May 24, 2011 | 5/24/11
It was a shocking admission that caught those who heard it by surprise.
Taleb Kanaan, the host of a show on the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Arabiya, who chaired a session of panelists and participants live tweeting at a major media event, said he didn't have a
Posted May 6, 2011 | 5/6/11
"On résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées" -- Victor Hugo.
Loosely translated: "One may be able to resist the invasion of armies, but not the invasion of ideas."

Posted April 26, 2011 | 4/26/11
Egyptian media continue to reel from news of mega-corruption permeating the ranks of former officials from the government of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, with key figures jailed and awaiting trial for their misdeeds.
"Safwat Al Sherif's fortune is 29 billion pounds (US$4.8 billion)," headlined a story in the Egyptian daily...

1 Comments | Posted January 23, 2012 | 1/23/12