Beyond Mainstream Media and Communication Perspectives on the Arab Uprisings

Abstract

This editorial argues for more research connecting media and communication as a discipline and the Arab Uprisings that goes beyond the mainstream techno-deterministic perceptions. The contributions in this thematic issue can be summarized around three central arguments: First, mainstream media, like TV and journalism, are central and relevant actors in the post-Arab Uprisings phase which have often been overlooked in previous literature. Second, marginalized actors are still engaged in asymmetric power struggles due to their vulnerable status, the precarious political economy, or a marginalized geographic location outside centralized polities. Finally, the third strand of argument is the innovative transnational geographic and chronological synapses that studying media and Arab Uprisings can bring. The editorial calls for more critical and interdisciplinary approaches that follow a region marked by inherent instability and uncertainty.

Predicting the level of social media use among journalists: machine learning analysis

“…Second, during and after the 2011 Arab uprisings, it became clear that social media's role in the period has been at the heart of much scholarly research (Tank and Ari-Matti, 2012;Sultan, 2013). Many Arab journalists turned to social media and connected with the public and political movement, and this was seen as the real point of dependence on social media that allowed the discovery of online possibilities of communication with others, and more importantly to overcome the Arab government media and their alliance's restrictions by both the journalists and citizens (Wolfsfeld et al, 2013;Al-Jenaibi, 2020;Badr, 2021). This allows them to be close to their users and share different content more easily and freely with them.…”

“…Given its low cost and influence, many Arab print media have started to switch to online formats and dropped their print editions such as the Saudi Al-Majalla newspaper, the UAE sports magazine Super, the Gulf News, and Lebanon's An-Nahar daily. This meant that Arab journalists were more reliant on social and online media content and were free from traditional journalism and how traditional media lacks engagement with the public (Badr, 2021). However, this does not mean that most Arab journalists were ready to fully adopt such platforms in their work as many obstacles still occurred such as lack of knowledge, training and skill in using social media professionally (Alawneh and Muhammed, 2016;Mansour, 2018) as well as lack of trust in social media information (al-Az'azi, 2015;Mounir, 2017).…”

“…Third, Arab journalists and their dependence on such platforms for news and information and in the production of journalistic topics during the COVID-19. Unsurprisingly, several Arab journalists have used social media as one of the main sources of their news stories (Badr, 2021), as gathering news stories was very difficult due to travel restrictions applied to most Arab journalists. They were required to work from home for the first time.…”

“…Social media and the Internet consequently became the main windows for them to collect information and data, and disseminate it to the public, which led to integration into the dynamics of journalism as Bossio (2017) indicates. COVID-19 intensified collaborative online formats of exchanging advice and sources in many Arab countries (Badr, 2021).…”