The News Media At War: The Clash of Western and Arab Networks in the Middle East (Library of Modern Middle East Studies Book 125)

Tarek Cherkaoui reveals how geo-political and ideological legacies of the past, which divide the world into a dichotomy of ‘us’ against ‘them’, play a dominant role in reinforcing the ensuing polarisation of our media. During the 2003 War in Iraq, American news media found it difficult to convey their pro-war perspective outside the United States. Since the war was unpopular in many parts of the world, failure to win hearts and minds-particularly in the Middle East-represented a significant setback for the American soft power. This book explores what happened. It examines the cross-cultural factors that made American television networks cover the war very differently from their Arab counterparts. Underpinning this difference is a deep and insightful study, which explains why America and the Arab world misperceive each other. Tarek Cherkaoui reveals how geo-political and ideological legacies of the past, which divide the world into a dichotomy of 'us' against 'them', play a dominant role in reinforcing the ensuing polarization. He argues that this clash of perspectives provides a snapshot into the new realities of our globally connected world "During the 2003 Iraq War, American news media found it difficult to convey their pro-war perspective outside the United States. Since the war was unpopular in many parts of the world, failure to win hearts and minds -- particularly in the Middle East -- represented a significant setback for American soft power. This book studies the complexities of media coverage of the Iraq War against a backdrop of clashing Orientalist and pan-Arab paradigms, through the examples of two leading global and transnational news networks, CNN International (CNNI) and Al Jazeera." -- Publisher's description