Fresh Global Media Players: Redistributing Communication Power

February 21-22, 2015

The landscape of news and entertainment has undergone a radical transformation over the past decade. Today people around the world watch content produced in or influenced by the Middle East, from Turkish television series to Qatar-based news and sports channels and Hollywood films financed by Middle Eastern backers. In short, the Arab world has joined the global conversation with a clear and distinct voice.

The research on global media, however, has not kept up with the times, favoring developments in the United States and Europe with the Arab world out of frame. In the Gulf region, this imbalance has been debated at length from the perspective of "media imperialism" and "de-Westernization," an argument that itself assumes that Western media is the status quo.

This Northwestern University in Qatar symposium explored the redistribution of world communication power from fresh vantage points, examining new voices and innovative players who are reshaping international news and entertainment. Media specialists from Qatar and other countries joined with the faculty and students of NU-Q to exchange research findings and theoretical approaches. Our goals for the conference:

• To highlight emerging pathways for researching and understanding both the messages and impact of new global media players
• To engage in a productive, illuminating exchange of ideas among global media scholars, Qatar-based media professionals and students

As a supplement to this program, NU-Q is preparing a conference report to serve as a conceptual roadmap of the interchange of ideas during the symposium. 

This symposium was supported by the Qatar National Research Fund conference and workshop sponsorship program.