Arab Satellite Broadcasting: An Alternative to Political Parties

The famous Arab news network Al-Jazeera has been considered one of the most important
‘Arab parties.’ Since most Arab countries have not yet established functioning democracies
most relevant institutions, like political parties and a parliamentarian opposition, are still
rudimentry, Arab satellite television seems to be taking over part of their designated role. As a
mouthpiece of Arab peoples and ‘the common man’, Arab satellite broadcasting seems able to
mediate between the state and society. In the international context the transnational Arab
news networks, in particular, have made tremendous inroads into the Western dominated flow
of news. Perhaps for the first time ever in history, Arabs have an effective and up-toglobalization
tool of information at their disposal to inform the world about their own views
on regional conflicts, for example, in Palestine or in Iraq.