The December 2004 issue is now online. Looks fascinating. Its focus is on Arab media and how it relates to reform. In addition to a number of country-specific articles, it has statistics, regional trends of various sorts, and information on journalists and funding.

Insights and Analysis

• Shattering the "Politics of Silence:" Satellite Television Talk Shows and the Transformation of Arab Political Culture By Marc Lynch
  Arab satellite news stations represent one of the Middle East's most potent forces for reform.
• Arab Satellite Television: Can It Rise Above Spectacle? By Jon B. Alterman
  Pan-Arab satellite TV has brought more open political talk into studios, but not yet more open politics on the ground.
• Privatization Alone Will Not Loosen Arab Governments' Grip on Broadcasting By Naomi Sakr
  Until Arab broadcasting is independently regulated, aspiring independent broadcasters will face pressures from above and below.
• Cyber-Struggle: Islamist Websites versus the Egyptian State By Omayma Abdel-Latif
  Islamist websites are trying to break the state's monopoly over the political and social agenda.
• Washington and the Challenge of Arab Press Freedom By William A. Rugh
  It is no simple matter for the United States to apply its cherished press freedom principles in its Middle East policy.
• Iraq: Nightmare of Violence Dashes Hopes for a Free Press By Borzou Daragahi
  Iraqi journalists face dangers from the insurgency, U.S. forces, and the Iraqi interim government.
• Kurdish Media After the War By Maggy Zanger
  Kurdistan is the most secure and economically thriving place in Iraq, but the Kurdish media are slow to take advantage of the situation.
• Media Reform in Syria: A Door Ajar? By Ammar Abdulhamid
  The Syrian regime is tolerating limited expressions of dissent in the media, but will reformers take advantage of the new opening?
• Still Shooting the Messenger in Morocco By Aboubakr Jamai
  King Muhammad VI has displayed an ambivalent, sometimes hostile attitude toward Morocco's new independent press.
• Egypt: Political Films and the Politics of Filmmaking By Walter Armbrust
  The politics of Egyptian film reflect an often complex mix of internal and external forces for change.

News and Views

• Statistics on the Arab Media
  
• Trends in Media Law Reform
  
• Trends in New Arab Media
  
• A Snapshot of the Iraqi Media Scene
  
• Reports on Press Freedom in Arab Countries
  
• Private Broadcasting in Palestine
  
• Al Jazeera Initiatives
  
• New Journalists' Associations
  
• U.S. Funding for Arab Media
  
• Views from the Arab Press

Read On
A roundup of new writings on Arab media and reform.

The Arabic edition of this issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin will be available by December 22 at http://www.alwatan.com.kw/arb.

Since I'm on the subject of blogging in the Arab world, here's a link to Iraqi Ur-Blogger Salam Pax's videos.

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[UPDATE 10-27-04; original post 10-12-04] by nadezhda

And here's a link to Salam Pax' occasional blogging for the Guardian. His new entries are about his recent seven-day trip to Washington, which followed the showing of his videos in Canda. Blogging about watching simultaneously the presidential debates and the Red Sox-Yankees, he has time for a few notes on political chatter:

And that is another thing that seemed to be incomprehensible to one of my new Washington friends: when we were talking about the popularity of the clerical militia chief Moqtada al-Sadr I was asked how anyone could be fooled by someone who so obviously used religion to boost his own popularity and went for the lowest common denominator for popular appeal? I was saved by another guest who asked if we were talking about Bush or Sadr here.

For those of you with a taste for Games Seven of World Series, it was eighty years ago today that the Washington Nationals won DC's only World Championship, taking Game Seven from the New York Giants. Coverage of that game will appear in the sports pages of tomorrow's Washington Post along with the results of today's games.

This will bring to a close a thoroughly enjoyable Washington Post special that has followed the 1924 Nationals day by day through their season. Not only are articles from the Post included each day, but pen & ink illustrations, photos, and written materials from other sources. A click on the calendar brings up the coverage for that day's game.

Saturday's coverage of Game 4 was terrific stuff, as the National's 18-year veteran great Walter Johnson didn't have what was needed to take a win from the Giants in New York. Today's edition covers the heroics at the plate and in the field of the injured short-stop, Roger Peckinpaugh. He had to be replaced finally by another infielder (who had only a compound fracture of his hand) after making a game-saving stop in the ninth to force a Game Seven.

Though the prose may be a bit purple, the sentiments are familiar.

The credit for the victory lies behind the scorebook, where dull facts and unimaginative figures attempt to tell the story of the greatest achievement of the spirit that the 35,000 spectators, from the President of the United States on down to the humblest of them all have ever and will ever see upon the diamond.