This book presents a rare investigation of the media landscape and gender dynamics in Emirati newsrooms, with a socio-cultural focus on the influence of tribal patriarchalism in determining Emirati women’s role as newsmakers. Shedding light on the stories of 40 Emirati and Arab expat journalists, including pioneer Emirati women journalists, the book offers insight into how these journalists construct gender differences and identity and how this influences their everyday attitudes, conversations, routines, and journalistic practices. The empirical study is supplanted with ethnographic explanations of the newsroom norms and journalistic practices from the author, who used participant observation inside two major news centres in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to understand the socio-cultural factors that shape the lives of Emirati and Arab expat journalists, their thoughts and beliefs about the media environment in the Emirates, and their opinions on authoritarian political control, censorship, and outdated media law. This book will interest students and scholars of journalism and journalistic practice, media policy, international journalism, gender studies, and Middle East studies.

This volume explores the dialogue between Arab media and global developments in the information age, looking at the influence of new technologies in Arab societies and the evolving role of Arab women in ‘old’ and ‘new’ media. By gathering together contributions from both Arab and non-Arab scholars alike, a timely and important collection is presented that sheds new light on the growing involvement, role and image of Arab women in the media.

Nineteen Arab women journalists speak out about what it’s like to report on their changing homelands in this first-of-its-kind essay collection, with a foreword by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour “A stirring, provocative and well-made new anthology . . . that rewrites the hoary rules of the foreign correspondent playbook, deactivating the old clichés.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times A growing number of intrepid Arab and Middle Eastern sahafiyat—female journalists—are working tirelessly to shape nuanced narratives about their changing homelands, often risking their lives on the front lines of war. From sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo to the difficulty of traveling without a male relative in Yemen, their challenges are unique—as are their advantages, such as being able to speak candidly with other women at a Syrian medical clinic or with men on Whatsapp who will go on to become ISIS fighters, rebels, or pro-regime soldiers. In Our Women on the Ground, nineteen of these women tell us, in their own words, about what it’s like to report on conflicts that (quite literally) hit close to home. Their daring and heartfelt stories, told here for the first time, shatter stereotypes about the region’s women and provide an urgently needed perspective on a part of the world that is frequently misunderstood. INCLUDING ESSAYS BY: Donna Abu-Nasr, Aida Alami, Hannah Allam, Jane Arraf, Lina Attalah, Nada Bakri, Shamael Elnoor, Zaina Erhaim, Asmaa al-Ghoul, Hind Hassan, Eman Helal, Zeina Karam, Roula Khalaf, Nour Malas, Hwaida Saad, Amira Al-Sharif, Heba Shibani, Lina Sinjab, and Natacha Yazbeck

Women's rights in the middle east and North Africa / edited by Sameena Nazir and Leigh Tomppert / 2005.

The role of Arab women is often perceived one-sided in Western countries. In fact this perception must be revised when looking at the achievements of women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The booming economy - one of the fastest growing economies in the world - demands for a well educated society. A 2005 Forbes list of "Women to Watch in the Middle East" included two Emirati women. Telling the success stories of Emirati women in leadership positions will give exposure to the West and serve to counterpoint existing prejudices about the opportunities for women in the UAE.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this analysis of media law in the United Arab Emirates surveys the massively altered and enlarged legal landscape traditionally encompassed in laws pertaining to freedom of expression and regulation of communications. Everywhere, a shift from mass media to mass self-communication has put enormous pressure on traditional law models. An introduction describing the main actors and salient aspects of media markets is followed by in-depth analyses of print media, radio and television broadcasting, the Internet, commercial communications, political advertising, concentration in media markets, and media regulation. Among the topics that arise for discussion are privacy, cultural policy, protection of minors, competition policy, access to digital gateways, protection of journalists’ sources, standardization and interoperability, and liability of intermediaries. Relevant case law is considered throughout, as are various ethical codes. A clear, comprehensive overview of media legislation, case law, and doctrine, presented from the practitioner’s point of view, this book is a valuable time-saving resource for all concerned with media and communication freedom. Lawyers representing parties with interests in the United Arab Emirates will welcome this very useful guide, and academics and researchers will appreciate its value in the study of comparative media law.

There is no doubt that the spurt of events in Arab countries following Arab Spring has made Arab media more influential and effective in promoting people’s causes and in strengthening the youth’s demands for freedom and dignity. Arab media has proved that it is capable of becoming a voice of the people, and the youth effectively benefited from this, especially since the electronic media and social networking sites contributed to the mobilization and management of the revolutions. This book is a reaffirmation of the importance of media in managing people’s lives, in highlighting their sufferings and happiness. This is the work of a group of journalists, academics and intellectuals. The book includes contributions from intellectuals like Dr. Khalid Al-Jaber who addresses in the introductory chapter the geographical, economic and political situations of the Arab world, the changes that took place and the role of media outlets with emphasis on news channels. In a chapter about the public’s attitude towards media coverage during Arab Spring revolution, Dr. Khalid Al-Jaber discusses the new role of Arab news channels, the standards of news services, their credibility, the role of foreign media and the role of media run by the Arab Diaspora.

Each year this book celebrates achievements of the United Arab Emirates and in so doing it pays tribute to the architect of this stunning success story, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the greatly loved and respected founding father and President of the UAE from its formation on 2 December 1971 until his death on 2 November 2004. Sheikh Zayed displayed enormous wisdom and strength in overcoming the obstacles that faced him in constructing a modern nation. He never faltered on his course and knew exactly what he wanted to achieve - and why. He used to say that 'Wealth is not money. Wealth is in people.' And he devoted his efforts to providing education, health care and social services for all the country's citizens. At the same time he nurtured an environment in which business could flourish and people could live rewarding lives in freedom and peace.

Dubai is the modern epitome of cosmopolitanism. Its 21st century panoply of economic opportunities reinforces the inviting veneer of its cosmopolitanism, which, at least, appears on the surface to be as enlightened as one would expect in a community that thrives on a monumental scale of innovation and enterprise. Dubai’s promise of lifelong prosperity and economic justice has attracted many citizens from all over the world – especially from underdeveloped countries such as Uganda. Success comes easily for some but also frustratingly slow for others. Sadly, many also must give up their dreams, as they realize that even in a desert oasis of so much economic promise the quest for tolerance, affirmation, and respect is, indeed, a universally challenging task. My new book entitled The Ambitious Struggle: An African Journalists journey to hope and Identity in a Land of migrants. represents a long journey and, to be honest, the book changed and morphed as the story developed and time continued to march on during the writing process. Initially, I planned to write the book focusing heavily on the deep presence of racism and discrimination that confounds and complicates the struggles of immigrants who come to Dubai looking for economic security and freedom. However, as the book took shape, I also learned more about myself, recalling my roots in my home country of Uganda and their still evolving impact upon my life as an immigrant who came to Dubai and eventually established an active career as a journalist. Thus, even as I am still a relatively young man, I realized that the whole spectrum of my formative life experiences endowed a unique, genuine sense of cosmopolitanism that prepared me for the successes as well as the disappointments in the process of creating a productive, happy, and healthy life in Dubai. Furthermore, my experiences abroad have reinforced and strengthened the most essential aspects of my identity – family, the Muslim religion, and Ugandan roots, which are extensively chronicled in the book.

Winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing "Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.… The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review In the United Arab Emirates, foreign nationals constitute over 80 percent of the population. Brought in to construct and serve the towering monuments to wealth that punctuate the skylines of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, this labor force is not given the option of citizenship. Some ride their luck to good fortune. Others suffer different fates. Until now, the humanitarian crisis of the so-called “guest workers” of the Gulf has barely been addressed in fiction. With his stunning, mind-altering debut novel Temporary People, Deepak Unnikrishnan delves into their histories, myths, struggles, and triumphs. Combining the linguistic invention of Salman Rushdie and the satirical vision of George Saunders, Unnikrishnan presents twenty-eight linked stories that careen from construction workers who shapeshift into luggage and escape a labor camp, to a woman who stitches back together the bodies of those who’ve fallen from buildings in progress, to a man who grows ideal workers designed to live twelve years and then perish—until they don’t, and found a rebel community in the desert. With this polyphony of voices, Unnikrishnan maps a new, unruly global English and gives personhood back to the anonymous workers of the Gulf. "Guest workers of the United Arab Emirates embody multiple worlds and identities and long for home in a fantastical debut work of fiction, winner of the inaugural Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing.… The author's crisp, imaginative prose packs a punch, and his whimsical depiction of characters who oscillate between two lands on either side of the Arabian Sea unspools the kind of immigrant narratives that are rarely told. An enchanting, unparalleled anthem of displacement and repatriation." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review "Inventive, vigorously empathetic, and brimming with a sparkling, mordant humor, Deepak Unnikrishnan has written a book of Ovidian metamorphoses for our precarious time. These absurdist fables, fluent in the language of exile, immigration, and bureaucracy, will remind you of the raw pleasure of storytelling and the unsettling nearness of the future." —Alexandra Kleeman, author of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine “Inaugural winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing, this debut novel employs its own brand of magical realism to propel readers into an understanding and appreciation of the experience of foreign workers in the Arab Gulf States (and beyond). Through a series of almost 30 loosely linked sections, grouped into three parts, we are thrust into a narrative alternating between visceral realism and fantastic satire.... The alternation between satirical fantasy, depicting such things as intelligent cockroaches and evil elevators, and poignant realism, with regards to necessarily illicit sexuality, forms a contrast that gives rise to a broad critique of the plight of those known euphemistically as ‘guest workers.’ VERDICT: This first novel challenges readers with a singular inventiveness expressed through a lyrical use of language and a laserlike focus that is at once charming and terrifying. Highly recommended.” —Henry Bankhead, Library Journal, Starred Review “Unnikrishnan’s debut novel shines a light on a little known world with compassion and keen insight. The Temporary People are invisible people—but Unnikrishnan brings them to us with compassion, intelligence, and heart. This is why novels matter.” —Susan Hans O’Connor, Penguin Bookshop (Sewickley, PA) “Deepak Unnikrishnan uses linguistic pyrotechnics to tell the story of forced transience in the Arabian Peninsula, where citizenship can never be earned no matter the commitment of blood, sweat, years of life, or brains. The accoutrements of migration—languages, body parts, passports, losses, wounds, communities of strangers—are packed and carried along with ordinary luggage, blurring the real and the unreal with exquisite skill. Unnikrishnan sets before us a feast of absurdity that captures the cruel realities around the borders we cross either by choice or by force. In doing so he has found what most writers miss: the sweet spot between simmering rage at a set of circumstances, and the circumstances themselves.” —Ru Freeman, author of On Sal Mal Lane “Deepak writes brilliant stories with a fresh, passionate energy. Every page feels as if it must have been written, as if the author had no choice. He writes about exile, immigration, deportation, security checks, rage, patience, about the homelessness of living in a foreign land, about historical events so strange that, under his hand, the events become tales, and he writes tales so precisely that they read like history. Important work. Work of the future. This man will not be stopped.” —Deb Olin Unferth, author of Revolution “From the strange Kafka-esque scenarios to the wholly original language, this book is amazing on so many different levels. Unlike anything I've ever read, Temporary People is a powerful work of short stories about foreign nationals who populate the new economy in the United Arab Emirates. With inventive language and darkly satirical plot lines, Unnikrishnan provides an important view of relentless nature of a global economy and its brutal consequences for human lives. Prepare to be wowed by the immensely talented new voice.” —Hilary Gustafson, Literati Bookstore (Ann Arbor, MI) “Absolutely preposterous! As a debut, author Unnikrishnan shares stories of laborers, brought to the United Arab Emirates to do menial and everyday jobs. These people have no rights, no fallback if they have problems or health issues in that land. The laborers in Temporary People are sewn back together when they fall, are abandoned in the desert if they become inconvenient, and are even grown from seeds. As a collection of short stories, this is fantastical, imaginative, funny, and even more so, scary, powerful, and ferocious.” —Becky Milner, Vintage Books (Vancouver WA)