This research explores the potential relational dialectics emerging in arranged marriages among Muslim families in Beirut, Lebanon. The study focuses on the tensions rising during the pre-wedding stages of the arranged relationship, during which candidates evolve from total strangers, to fiancés, and ultimately to spouses. Based on a thematic analysis of interviews with sixteen couples, the study revealed six major dialectical tensions emerging along partners’ socio-religious, emotionl, and gender differences, or due to parental interventions: Arranged vs. romantic script, interpersonal vs. social frames, commitment vs. autonomy, traditional vs. liberal gender roles, emotions vs. reason, and family inclusion vs. seclusion. The couples coped with tensions mostly by resorting to religion and to other family members for guidance, by reframing their conditions according to their ideal relational script.
• Pasted on public and private building walls, political posters commemorating martyrs were a familiar feature of Lebanon’s civil war. Twenty-five years later, they serve as a window into the culture of the era. Based on 86 political posters collected from the 1960s through the 1980s in Beirut, this research examines how people viewed martyrdom during that period. Using a semiotic analysis, it studies how different political players promoted and used martyrdom to revive deceased leaders and militiamen, and frame their memory as one of valiant heroism. The study finds that, although martyrdom was promoted as a secular notion at the beginning of the war, it was still venerated as an honor along the tradition of Abraham’s divine sacrifice. Mostly used for political, ideological and publicity purposes, martyrdom enabled the various militias to change their losses into victories, strengthen their bonds with their constituents and acquire credibility as people who have offered blood. •
As part of their 'War on Terror', Washington policy makers launched a massive public diplomacy campaign hoping to 'gain Muslim hearts and minds.' Their efforts, including the production of advertisements and documentaries, culminated with the inauguration of Al-Hurra, a commercial-free satellite station broadcasting in Arabic. Despite the substantial amount of money poured into it, Al-Hurra's success was strongly questioned among media scholars and US policy experts. And yet, Al-Hurra has generated very little academic research testing its effectiveness as an instrument of public diplomacy. This article reports the results of a survey administered in seven Lebanese universities to assess the performance of Al-Hurra among the country's college students. More specifically, it examines Al-Hurra's viewership, credibility, and trustworthiness in comparison to Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. The paper also tests the relation between Al-Hurra's viewership and audience attitude toward the United States. Findings show that Al-Hurra's viewership is considerably lower than Al-Jazeera's and Al-Arabiya's. Its credibility is also lower than that of its two Arab counterparts. Finally, Al-Hurra viewership did not predict a positive attitude toward the USA. The study raises questions about public diplomacy tools in general and Al-Hurra in particular.
appears in the book more than any other person, particularly for his 2005 declaration before the American Society of Newspaper Editors that young people today are ''digital natives,'' with different expectations about how and where they will get their news.The comparisons with overseas media sometimes add to the global picture, but you do not have to be a xenophobe to struggle to engage with some of the details, with sentences explaining such things as how ''Blommenholm Industrier owns 26.1 percent of Schibsted ASA shares and is the group's largest shareholder.'' At its heart, though, Funding Journalism summarizes the current situation for news media managers, providing a useful starting point for those just joining the field. One chapter specifically encourages them to study microeconomic models and the dynamics of consumers and markets-without tearing down the firewall between the advertisers and content.''Everyone in journalism must become more commercially minded and more entrepreneurial,'' the authors wrote. ''The dilution of the separation of church and state in news organizations . . . will sound like heresy to some traditionalists. But combining the skills and knowledge of all departments could prove essential in developing new ways to fund journalism.''
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