Magda Abu-Fadil

Arab media are finally establishing stronger footholds in their backyards following recent revolts and demands by a growing youth population eager to have an impact on the course of events.

"It's a natural outcome to ongoing changes in the Arab world in one of the key rebounds of the Arab...

It's become an annual must read to take the pulse of where they are, but this year's edition of "Arab Media Outlook 2011-2015" (AMO) goes further to shed more light on what's to come amid a sea of uncertainty.

"The current edition of the report is set against a period...

Over a year ago activist/blogger Slim Amamou created a lot of buzz as the youngest cabinet minister in the post-revolution transitional Tunisian government that promised to reform the country after decades of corrupt dictatorial rule.

Today, he's worried the regime that replaced that cabinet, after the...

Lebanon's Information Minister Walid El Daouk didn't know what he was in for when he tried to ram through a draft law regulating online media, thereby opening all cyber hell's doors and a backlash that will recur if he tries to pull the same stunt again.

The anti-Lebanese Internet Regulation...

It's been ages since I've come across a gripping and realistic novel that displays elements of what residents in the Middle East live and breathe on a daily basis.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I read through Olives, A Violent Romance, by Alexander McNabb, described in a...

George C. Scott's gritty voice still rings, barking orders at troops he commanded to face down the enemy in foreign lands, as he embodied "Old Blood and Guts" (their blood, his guts) in the movie Patton.

The powerful performance about the life of U.S. Major General George S. Patton, notably...

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...

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...

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...

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:...

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...

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...

"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.

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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