61. Name: Marwa Abdel Samei Title: Public Diplomacy in the Age of Regional Media: Winning the War of Hearts and Minds in the Middle East Al Hurra vs. Al Jazeera Institution: Northeastern University Country: United States Date: 2010 Language: English Abstract: This comparative critical discourse analysis investigates the coverage of specific international events by Al Hurra and Al Jazeera channels. It examines how regional media challenge the conduct of US public diplomacy in the Arab world to define the factors contributing to the success or failure of the public diplomacy of the media. It also discusses how the communications revolution shifted the paradigm of diplomacy by emphasizing the role of public diplomacy, while complicating the environment within which public diplomacy is conducted. This study demonstrates that Al Hurra news channel communicates values that primarily serve American policies and strategies in the Middle East. By adopting a clear futuristic approach, it tends to marginalize the role of religion as well as the region’s history. It is more inclined to reflect liberal voices in the Arab world as well as the Israeli views of the Middle East. In contrast, Al Jazeera is evidently more open to various persuasions and orientations in the Arab world, even if it seeks to promote the idea of Arabness with its constituent elements of identity such as history, language and religion.
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