Includes bibliographical references and index

Arab information media : function and structure -- The mobilization press : Syria, Libya, the Sudan, and pre-2003 Iraq -- The mobilization press : development stages -- The loyalist press : Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Palestine -- The diverse print media : Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, and Yemen -- The "transitional" system of print media : Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and Algeria -- Development of the transitional system of print media -- Offshore Pan-Arab print media -- Arab radio and television prior to 1990 -- Arab television since 1990 : structure -- Arab television since 1990 : programs

"Since 9/11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, many television viewers in the United States have become familiar with Al Jazeera as an alternative take on events from that presented by mainstream U.S. media, as well as a disseminator of anti-American invective

Westerners have tended toward simplistic views of Arab newspapers, radio, and television, assuming that they are all under government control and that freedom of press is non-existent. William A. Rugh, a long time observer of the Arab mass media, offers a more nuanced picture of the Arab press as it relates to the political situation in the Arab world today."--Jacket