ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the relationship between Arab integration and the media, the flow and content of mediated messages and the technologies that make this flow possible. A basic obstacle to integration in many developing societies is a paucity of communication structures. Telecommunication infrastructures are the physical and therefore less controversial means of providing this connectivity. In the Arab countries, other institutions, such as the mosque, play a significant role in shaping public opinion. The crisis of credibility is a natural outcome of the government's domination of the media. Most of the Arab media are government owned and controlled. While the governments grip is extremely tight on radio and television, the cinema and printed media have enjoyed relative freedom. The British and French governments in different ways saw in the transfer of radio broadcasting to the colonies an extension of their political and cultural influence.
