The Transnationalisation of Information and Journalism: The Case of Arab Media

Abstract

Between late 2010 and mid-2012, the “Arab Spring” led to the fall of leaders in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen, as well as to a new constitution in Morocco. For so much change to happen in such a short period, the movement’s roots had to have been well established for some time. Such was the case for the news media, as Tourya Guaaybess explains in this chapter. Going back over the phenomena of the transnationalisation of information and media flows that started in the 1990s, she explains how what she calls a “sociological transition” of news-media professionals and users took place, within a broader context of globalised information exchange, and within a regional context characterised by an Arab-speaking audience and dissemination strategies that transcended country borders.