Noha Mellor’s book attempts to map the research gap of Arab Journalism. Through the course of the book, she notes empty areas of academic research: the social practices of Arab Journalists and the local/national Arab media as opposed to pan-Arab media. She also refuted the generalization of Arab media as a unified entity, viewing it instead as a diverse array of press models in a diverse culture.
Hybridity is a key concept in the understanding of this book. Hybridity is flows from the idea of globalization. When Arab countries encounter a force like McDonalds they don’t always (often?) react by forming a picture perfect western McDonalds. In hybridity, a culture forms their own style of fast food restaurant (Mellor 9-10). This is especially true in regards to journalism. Over the past two decades, increased western presence in Arab countries, along with the proliferation of cell phones and internet have given Arab countries unprecedented access to Western Journalism.
One of the key social practices adopted from the American model press is the idea of the objective reporter (Mellor 127). Acting as what Mellor, calls a “truth investigator,” arab journalists in numerous countries go in search of a set of facts (Mellor 123). What is perhaps less adopted from the American Model press is the idea of quoting numerous sides of an issue to find the truth. For example, Mellor notes that there are no arab news organization – at least none that she cites – that publish stories critical of Islam (Mellor 133). In this way, Arab Journalism is perhaps more easily identified with the openly-biased (by Western standards) style of the press used in European countires. But even there, the comparison still perhaps falls short. Numerous factors, such as the proliferation of Arab dialects used in news organizations, the medium and the country in question make Arab Journalism problematic to pin into a given slot of typology (Mellor 142-143; 91-92).
