ABSTRACT
One of the major changes within the Middle Eastern cultural landscape is the burgeoning of national, regional and international television providers. There is an increasing public access to the medium. This study maps out the changes in the context of a changing global political economy and explores the possible consequences for political and cultural democratization. One key issue is changing gender dynamics, as more women are brought into the national public sphere. Other important issues involve the tensions between political attempts to strengthen national political and cultural identities, the potential cultural discount of the Arab language and culture in the furtherance of a regional identity, and the impact of an increasing circulation of western cultural and political images and information in the complex process of transformation to modernity.
