Everything you could ever possibly want to know about religious broadcasting in the Middle East from the Cambridge Arab Media Project:

Since the mid-1990s, the influence of satellite television broadcasting
in the Middle East has become central to the shaping of public attitudes
in the region and beyond. The number of channels has grown rapidly in
less than twenty years from none to almost five hundred today. While
many of the most influential mainstream satellite channels are news focused, entertainment and religious broadcasting are also significant.
The aim of this conference was to focus on religious broadcasting –
Islamic, Jewish and Christian – in the Middle East in order to gain an
understanding of the channels’ different discourses, as well as the wider
factors and structures which sustain them.
 
 
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In terms of sources I trust on international political affairs, television news show host is on par with fashion gossip writer. One significant exception is Fareed Zakaria whose CNN show is a veritable oasis in the TV talkshow desert.

CNN publishes the briefing books Zakaria (allegedly) uses to prepare for the show on the "Fareed Zakaria GPS" site. Great stuff. Check out the book for his Nov. 1st show here.
 
 

Al Arabiya claims a victory over its more popular rival, Al-Jazeera, over the news cycle about Iran.  Al-Jazeera has had unprecedented access in Iran, because Qatar (which owns the channel) is close to the Iranian regime, and had refrained from critical coverage.  But Arab viewers wanted to see blood: 

"Al Arabiya aired a shocking footage of the demonstrations and bloody clashes with the Basij and in which gunshots were heard. The video, which Al Arabiya obtained from BBC Persian, was broadcast without a comment, a rather unprecedented way of news broadcasting. For almost 10 hours, Al Arabiya kept broadcasting a rerun of the controversial video. On the other hand, al-Jazeera only ran a brief story on the clashes then moved to Somalia right away."

"Had al-Jazeera presented full coverage of the events in Iran within the framework of its usual political stance [i.e. pro-Iranian], what happened in Iran would have been a conspiracy by the West. However, because Al Arabiya came first, it became obvious to all Arab viewers that what is happening in Iran is a crime and that its regime is a big lie. Al-Jazeera was struck with a mysterious curse that turned it from a fiery, controversial channel that "stirs stagnant waters," according to its famous slogan, to a passive, timid one. Al Arabiya exchanged roles with al-Jazeera and is now the fiery, exciting channel. Al-Jazeera used to side with the people whereas Al Arabiya sided with the regimes. Now it's the other way round."

-Jon

 
 

A view from the Arab side of the Gulf. From al-Arabiya:

"In order to avoid arousing the wrath of the Iranian citizen, the regime will be forced to increase domestic spending - which will place huge pressures on the budget – so as to win over the broad angry masses. No matter what it costs it and whatever the justifications may be, the regime will refrain from raising prices."

"Major powers that support Iran, like China and Russia, will wait and reassess the domestic performance of the Iranian government. If they realize that the popularity of this regime is dropping, this would be an indication of long and exhausting problems for the regime. They will thus not risk supporting Tehran's political stands as they used to do before Iran was struck with the recent political earthquake."

-Jon

 
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