Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Arab-American Media

The Role of Social Media in the Arab Uprisings

[1]

[2]

Now, research is emerging that reexamines in a more detailed way the role that social media played in the Arab uprisings. 

[5]

[or social]

[7]

[8]

[and]

Arab-American news outlets find they must compete with this abundance of online content in order to evolve alongside readers who are increasingly turning to the internet for information. Newspapers have made the greatest inroads here so far, with most offering at least some form of digital content, while still maintaining print versions for older generations and those who prefer a physical newspaper. Radio programs, in light of the continuing challenge to find advertising sponsorship, are beginning to shift online.  Arab-American television, on the other hand, has yet to even really find a place amid the satellite programming available from Arab countries.


Footnotes

[1]

   Journalism.” Multiple original stories published on Storify. June 2012.

   Raziq, Abdul. “Syrian Citizen Journalists Risk All to Bring Stories from the Frontlines.” PR Watch, the

   Center for Media and Democracy. May 28, 2012.

   Sutter, John D. ” ‘SNN,’ YouTube Help Amplify Voices in Syria.” CNN. May 28, 2012.

[2]

[3]

[4]

    Assistance, the National Endowment for Democracy. 2012. 

[5]

[6]

     and Conflict After the Arab Spring.” Peaceworks: United States Institute for Peace. July 2012.

     The authors use the term “new media” instead and not “social media” in the report. There is some debate

     about which term is most appropriate when referring to these technologies-“new media,” “social

     media,” “information communication technology (ICT),” “user-generated platforms,” “digital media,” and “Web 2.0

     technology” are some of the more commonly used phrases.

[7]

[8]

Bennett, Shea. “Exclusive: “The Twitter User Who Broke News of Whitney Houston’s Death and Hour Before the

      Press.” Mediabistro. Feb. 15, 2012 in Olmstead, Kenny, freelance journalist Jane Sasseen, Amy Mitchell, and Tom

      Rosenstiel. “Digital: News Gains Audience but Loses Ground in Chase for Revenue.” PEJ State of the News Media. 2012.

[9]

Manneh, Suzanne. E-mail correspondence with PEJ. Oct. 25, 2012.

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