Journalism professor Philip Seib recently published a highly acclaimed scholarly book — his first as a USC Annenberg faculty member — titled New Media and the New Middle East (published by The Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication).
"There are many reasons to commend Professor Seib’s new book to media students and scholars, especially those with an interest in the Middle East," University of Kentucky professor Douglas A. Boyd said. "New Media and the New Middle East is a descriptive title; the chapters do not rehash the well-worn past of media in this important area of the world. (Seib), who crafts the first chapter, has taken pains to attract for his publication writers who are young scholars."
One of those young scholars is Annenberg communication doctoral student Shawn Powers, who co-wrote a chapter titled "The Public Diplomacy of Al Jazeera."
Says lecturer Noureddine Miladi of the University of Northampton and the Centre for Arab & Muslim Media Research in the United Kingdom: "A superb collection of essays about timely and developing debates on Arab and Middle Eastern media. In a region thriving with unprecedented growth in satellite channels and internet expansion, Philip Seib’s book makes a major contribution to understand the crucial role of the media in that region, especially in the wake of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and ensuing events. A book waiting to be read."
In Seib's book, topics ranging from women's rights to terrorism in the Middle East, and countries from Israel to Saudi Arabia are examined in terms of how new media are reshaping lives and politics.
