Arab Media Influence Report (AMIR) Provides Unique Insights into the Middle East

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--News Group International, a Dubai based news management company, has released a preview of findings included in its AMIR: Arab Media and Influence Report, the first periodic report focused on monitoring and analyzing Arab media, including print, broadcast and social media.

“It is the first systematic and objective review of media from the region, and does not include anecdotal information which has been a staple of past reports.”

Among the key findings in the preview report, which analyzed 4,800 front pages of newspapers as well as social media in each of 8 Arab countries during the first 4 months of 2010 are:

Print media is not on the decline in the Middle East, newspaper circulation rates are continuing to grow
There is a clear divergence of priorities amongst the Middle East nations. When looking at the Israeli case, countries like Syria & Algeria have a great deal more coverage related to Israel, as compared to others such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE
Across social media platforms, there is more negative sentiment expressed towards the USA found in connection with its involvement with Iraq, than there is connection to Israel.
President Obama’s recent Summit on Entrepreneurship received scant media attention despite being geared toward Muslim countries. Only a single newspaper, state owned Al-Ahram of Egypt, covered the story on its front page. An analysis of social media found that sentiment was largely negative: 48% of total coverage was negative, 19% positive, and 33% neutral.

When the actual report is made commercially available in July it will include a much larger sample: 17 countries will be included, and in addition to newspaper coverage, there will be analysis of television, radio and social media. “The Arab Media and Influence report represents a new stage in analysis of information from and about the Middle East and North Africa,” said Mazen Nahawi, President of News Group International. “It is the first systematic and objective review of media from the region, and does not include anecdotal information which has been a staple of past reports.”

AMIR will include regular features such as assessments of top priorities on a country-by-country basis as well as analysis of points of divergence and convergence. It will also be possible to review the coverage of a topic across the region and to review comparisons between social and traditional media. The report can be customized to include featured selected by subscribers to the quarterly report. The price for each report will be determined by the features selected and customization required.

News Group COO Fadl Al Tarzi introduced the report during a panel discussion on Arab media that was held at the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday. The panel included:

Ambassador Edward Walker, Jr., Former U.S. ambassador to Israel, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates; Former Asst. Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs, Deputy Permanent Representative of the U.S. to the U.N.
Maj. General James Marks (Ret), Sr. Intelligence Officer, Coalition Land Forces, Operation Iraqi Freedom; CEO Global Linguist Solutions, Contributor BBC, Military Analyst CNN
Mazen Nahawi, Managing Director, Media Watch Middle East, President, News Group Int.
Barbara Slavin, Fmr. Asst. Managing Editor, World and National Security, Washington Times, Author
David Kenner, Asst. Editor, Foreign Policy
Moderated by Ahmed Qureshi President, Harbinger Associates

The discussion focused on how media, both traditional and new, in the Middle East and North Africa is changing the political, social and cultural landscape of the region.

About News Group

News Group is a news management company founded in 2002, the company and its subsidiaries specialize in the sourcing, distribution, creation, monitoring and analysis of news content in the emerging markets of the Middle East, Africa and the Indian sub-continent. The group includes seven subsidiaries that employ over 300 people. News Group is based in Dubai and operates in 30 countries across the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, primarily through its subsidiaries.