Media Use in the Arab Gulf: A Longitudinal Study

Everette E. Dennis, Justin Martin, Robb Wood
Collaborating Institutions: Al Jazeera Network, Doha Film Institute
Funding: Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP)
Website: mideastmedia.org

This project continues the work of two previous studies conducted by NU-Q. The first study surveyed residents in eight Arab countries on their news and information media use, and the second surveyed residents in six Arab countries on their entertainment media use. Both studies achieved widespread recognition by creating unique knowledge not only on the economically and socially crucial subject of media use, but also on cultural attitudes towards privacy, freedom of speech and tradition vs. modernity within Arab states. Additionally, NU-Q made the results  freely available to academics, journalists, governments, businesses, and the general public.

The current project builds on these studies by establishing a longitudinal dataset in three states of the Arab Gulf: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The first and third years of the project (News Media Use in the Arab Gulf) will replicate and update NU-Q’s 2013 “Media Use in the Middle East” study, and the second year of the project (Entertainment Media Use in the Arab Gulf) will repeat NU-Q’s 2014 entertainment media study. NU-Q will again freely share the results of this longitudinal study, providing knowledge of how traditional and digital media consumption and cultural attitudes are developing.

Publications

Dennis, E., Martin, J.D., & Wood, R. (2013). Media Use in the Middle East. Doha, Qatar: Northwestern University in Qatar. 2013 Media Use in the Middle East: An Eight-Nation Survey

Dennis, E., Martin, J.D., & Wood, R. (2014). Entertainment Media Use in the Middle East. Doha, Qatar: Northwestern University in Qatar. 2014 Entertainment Media Use in the Middle East: A Six-Nation Survey