Realizing the importance of educating youth about ubiquitous media systems and messages that surround every aspect of their lives, many countries across the globe have embraced media and information literacies as core components of university curricula, and in some cases middle- and high-school programs. Unfortunately, the Arab region has been a latecomer to this realization (Melki, 2009, 2011).

As the Arab region continues to face political, social and economic uncertainty, social media and citizen journalism have come to the forefront as a means for organising social movements that challenge existing powers and protest for social change. While the 2011 Arab uprisings have been credited in part to the creative use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter (Youmans & York, 2012), effective citizen participation still needs a stronger culture of critical enquiry if governments are to become more accountable, and citizens more informed. This is particularly true amid setbacks to democratic transitions that have challenged assumptions about the effectiveness of online publishing in aiding democratic change, especially in countries like Egypt and Syria. The consensus among media scholars that advancements in technology have opened up a new kind of “participatory citizenry” where civic participation is enhanced by media and information literacy (Culver & Jacobson, 2012) is now shaken by the (mis)-use of social media to spread misinformation and polemic in the MENA region, often with deadly consequences. To combat this, Arab citizen journalists require a better grounding in media literacy tools to consolidate their skills and practices of evidence-based journalism and be able to examine and repair the flow of information so vital for democracy in their countries. This paper puts the question of media literacy for empowerment within the larger framework of media convergence, in an attempt to better understand how the Arab region’s new generation of content producers had to adapt themselves to an ever-changing market. It also looks at the main challenges the region faces today as it strives to enhance civic participation among its activists and citizen journalists, suggesting a logical matrix that could serve as a model for media literacy for empowerment through: 1. Improving awareness of issues relating to democracy, governance and human rights 2. Improving civic participation in methods of selecting and disseminating newsworthy information to take a more efficient part in the public debate, and 3. Improving critical thinking in news media consumption.

CIMA is pleased to release a new report, Digital Media in the Arab World One Year After the Revolutions, by Jeffrey Ghannam, a lawyer and writer in Washington, DC. The Arab region is experiencing a profound media shift. The year following the start of the Arab revolutions–in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and violent uprisings in Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain–was followed by continued repression and threats to the exercise of free expression online and offline. But the year also saw great strides in the numbers of Arabs across the region turning to social media platforms and the ascendancy of online engagement. This report describes and analyzes the enabling of tens of millions of individuals–as well as established news outlets–to attract wide global followings with Facebook and Twitter updates and YouTube videos about rapidly changing events. The widely diverse and pluralistic online communities in the Arab world are creating and sharing content, casting into question the future of the many state-owned or self-censored media that provide less in the way of engagement that Arab audiences have come to expect.

The role of new media in the Arab uprisings and the news of widespread surveillance of digital and mobile media have triggered a renewed interest in Arab audiences research, particularly as it pertains to these audiences' critical abilities and digital media literacy competencies. Taken for granted have been Arab youth's widespread use of social media for activism and political expression and their suspicion of government monitoring and privacy threats. This study questions these assumptions and attempts to provide a more accurate picture Arab youth's media uses, with the goal of informing the development of digital and media literacy curricula for the region. The study surveyed 2,554 youth and compared their media uses across countries, genders, incomes, ages, and education levels. The findings suggest low media literacy levels and media uses apathetic to political activism and focused more on entertainment with little fear of government surveillance and privacy risks

One of the most serious challenges faced by many Arab countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen, is the danger of divisive sectarianism, one that can threaten their very existence. In this context, the various political and religious tensions and divisions are routinely echoed in the media, and in particular social networking (SNS). Online flaming seems to create and lead to an endless exchange of hate speech between different sects, groups, and communities that have obvious offline differences. This is unfortunately an inescapable reality. This paper argues that digital media literacy, and specifically religious literacy, can be used as a tool to enhance the sense of national harmony among the different religions and sects in order to combat online religious radicalization by focusing on the elements that bind citizens together, rather than those that divide them. In other words, the incorporation of media literacy curriculum from the early stages of education can be used to raise awareness of the possibilities and dangers of social media, and disseminate the concept of national identity that transcends political and religious divisions and ethnic differences. These efforts can be state-sponsored, because of the financial and logistical support needed for implementing such programs; they can also be supported or guided by the Media and Communication Division of the Arab League.

Input paper to the Baku Conference – First Council of Europe Platform Exchange on Culture and Digitisation“Creating an enabling environment for digital culture and for empowering citizens”. 4-5 July 2014, Baku, Azerbaijan

Although many students are proficient in using social media among friends, they are not necessarily proficient at how to use it professionally for commercial application. On the other hand, communication companies are struggling with the problem of using social media to get important information out to younger people. These companies lack the resources and sometimes the experience to produce content for the social media sites. The solution for companies is to rely on graduates of today’s communication programs, but the students need to learn professional usage of social media. Communication educators face the task of merging professional communication skills with the new media applications to extend students beyond what they already know from their personal social media usage. This paper describes a model to teach social media content skills in a manner effective for Arab students in the United Arab Emirates. The model employs the educational theory of scaffolding, and meets the specific characteristics of Arab learners outlined by Ahmad Al-Issa in terms of working within a collectivistic and high-context culture. http://www.uowdubai.ac.ae/pdfs/publications/MEME_Vol_1_Issue_2.pdf

Visual communication has become especially important within the context of today’s digital society, where information and communication technologies pervade all corners of everyday life. The importance of images and visual media in contemporary culture is determining what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Today's society is highly visual, and visual imagery is no longer supplemental to other forms of information. The pervasiveness of images and visual media means that individuals should be able to critically view, use, and produce visual content. Individuals must develop these essential skills in order to engage capably in a visually-oriented society. Visual literacy empowers individuals to participate fully in a visual culture. This has posed new challenges for users and information professionals alike. This paper addresses the emergence of Media and Visual Literacy as integral component in today's culture and highlights its status in the Arab World. Revision of ...