The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics

by Philip Seib

Book Overview

The battle for hearts and minds in the Middle East is being fought not on the streets of Baghdad, but on the newscasts and talk shows of Al Jazeera. The future of China is being shaped not by Communist Party bureaucrats, but by bloggers working quietly in cyber cafes. The next attacks by al Qaeda will emerge not from Osama bin Laden's cave, but from cells around the world connected by the Internet.

In these and many other instances, traditional...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1597972002
• ISBN13: 9781597972000
• Release Date: September 2008
• Publisher: Potomac Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Read

I'm a political science major, and had to right a book review for a class I was taking, the book doesn't read like a text book and is still very informative and education it keeps the reader intriuged the whole way. Very good.

Great insights on how new(ish) media are transforming the Islamic world

Seib, an insightful political scientist and journalism analyst both, brings both barrels to play in looking at how first, satellite TV, and now, blogs, Twitter, etc., are changing news coverage within the Muslim world, especially, but not only, in the Arab heartland. That includes their impact not just on traditional nation-states, but stateless actors like al Qaeda, and in-between players, quasi-states without borders like Kurdistan. That said, Seib is a realist. He notes that, while media in Lebanon pinned back Syria's ears as part of the Cedar Revolution, it has had little power to change political structures in places like the Gulf kingdoms, Iran or Egypt. In any case, without being explicitly predictive, Seib has good insights for future developments. As part of that, while looking primarily at news coverage issues, he also looks at the financial side, no small matter with the financial backing al-Jazeera, especially, gets. He offers no predictions as to when it will be able to stand on its own two feet, but notes that this too is an issue needing further attention.