Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- DEDICATION
- Introduction
- 1 Media: The Bridge to Globalization
- 2 The Arab Journalistic Field
- 3 Journalism as a Beacon for Democracy
- 4 The Dichotomy of the Public/Private Sphere
- 5 Global Media, Global Public Sphere?
- 6 Truth Martyrs
- 7 Arab Journalism as an Academic Discipline
- Conclusion
- Notes
- References
- Index
Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- DEDICATION
- Introduction
- 1 Media: The Bridge to Globalization
- 2 The Arab Journalistic Field
- 3 Journalism as a Beacon for Democracy
- 4 The Dichotomy of the Public/Private Sphere
- 5 Global Media, Global Public Sphere?
- 6 Truth Martyrs
- 7 Arab Journalism as an Academic Discipline
- Conclusion
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
No one doubts the importance of the media in the contemporary world, but they are only one part of a much more complex set of social institutions that it is the object of sociology to study.
Anthony GiddensRather than offering a coherent thesis, the previous chapters provided pointers to future scholarship of Arab media. I would like to summarize these pointers in these concluding remarks, but let me first summarize the main themes and arguments of the previous chapters.
First, as I argued in Chapter 1, media as well as education have served as the main building blocks in the modernization projects in several Arab States. While education was meant to spread a new sense of progressive identity, media was supposed to spread a sense of local as well as pan-Arab belonging. However, those modernization plans have not reached their goals, simply because they were based on essentialist views that saw indigenous cultural identity as a fixed entity that would not be altered by mixing with other cultures. More importantly, those plans discounted the ability of the laity, as well as intellectuals, to constantly reflect on their actions and continuously work towards improving their position in the social hierarchy. Media here play a decisive role in that they serve as a bridge among cultures as well as social classes.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Modern Arab JournalismProblems and Prospects, pp. 191 - 194Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2007