The George Mitchell Appointment

Media coverage of the George Mitchell appointment as special U.S. envoy to the Middle East has been remarkably similar in Western and MENA media, almost giddy. Al-Jazeera says, "Mitchell is by far the most high-profile, skilled negotiator to tackle the US role in the Middle East since Henry Kissinger." ABC news argued that Mitchell is the best person suited for the job. Others, such as Gamal Abdel Gawad, a senior political analyst in Cairo, share this sentiment: "You can't believe the change. People are beginning to entertain the idea of the U.S. as a force of good, not evil."

The message is clear; now its time for substance. One of only a few MENA reporters who are hesitant, Kareem Fathi of Kuwait T.V. asked, "Where is the policy? Is it just words?" It's still early to ask for momentous change but things need to start happening before the message of the U.S. as a friend gets stale. Al-Jazeera's appreciation for Obama's attention to Muslims and the Middle East will not last forever. As it reports, although President Obama has shown a priority to the Middle East, Americans are more concerned with the economy, not foreign policy. Obama must make the change he speaks of tangible or the hope of his message will be lost.

Obama interview with Al-Arabiya

For his first official interview as President, Barack Obama chose to send a clear message to the broad Muslim world: Americans are not your enemy. This has had great reception in the Middle East. Many see his words as distinctly different from his predecessor, President George W. Bush. They want someone in the White House who not only listens to their concerns but who also cares about them. Some see Obama as someone who will do both.

After initially casting Obama's words off as rhetoric and a continuation of the previous administration, Hamas officials said, "In the last couple of days there have been a lot of statements [from Obama], some of them very positive, and choosing this George Mitchell as an envoy, I think there are some positive things we have to count."

However not everyone is totally satisfied with Obama's appearance. A few Western media outlets (Associated press, Reuters) have covered expressed criticism of Obama for selecting Al-Arabiya to conduct the interview. The company, owned by a Saudi businessman with strong ties to the U.S., is the same (and only) Middle Eastern media outlet that President Bush gave interviews to.

Although there were some critics, a majority of the coverage and responses to the interview have been positive, both from Western and MENA perspectives. It is yet unclear how successful this administration's policies will be (and what exactly they are), but Western and MENA media have had an optimistic tone.

Food for thought: Al-Jazeera did not mention a single word about the Al-Arabiya broadcast on-air or on its web site.

Obama Inauguration

Coverage of the Inauguration of Barack Obama was generally well received by both of these Israeli and Lebanese publications. Although hopes are high throughout the Middle East, many are hesitant to be optimistic until they see real change in the way of U.S. foreign policy to the region.

Media, Perception, and Change

Over the past six years, Middle East public opinion polls of the United States have revealed that there is little faith in its policy and leadership. But with the inauguration of Barack Obama and an entire new ideology in Washington, hope in the Middle East has risen to bring great expectations from the new administration. Will President Obama make peace in the Middle East a priority of his foreign policy? How will the Arab world respond to proposed solutions?

Perception of the U.S. will be largely influenced by media. In addition to the traditional news sources with which we are all familiar, including Middle East mass media still in its infancy, the World Wide Web has come to replace the consumption-oriented news cycle with a more selective and interactive experience. This new medium has and will continue to exert a large influence on public perception and opinion. Will SMS messaging grow to have a real impact on Arab publics--as it did for a short while in Egypt--or will it become another lost opportunity? Will blogs, email, and trans-regional news services promote an engaged civil society? Or will governments and radicals prevent this potential force from providing meaningful change?

As both the United States and the Middle East shape and react to the evolution of the way information is shared, it is the goal of this blog to comparitavely analyze the types and content of Middle Eastern and American news and information as the U.S.-Arab relationship evolves in the 21st century.