Just Published: CPD Director Edits First Book to Assess Al Jazeera English Network

USC Center on Public Diplomacy Director Philip Seib’s edited volume, Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World (Palgrave Macmillan) is the first book to examine the channel’s coverage methods, its effects on its audience, and its place in the world of mediated geopolitics.

In 2011, as Al Jazeera English covered the upheavals in the Arab world, its broadcasts themselves became the subject of news. How did a channel not even carried by the major cable television companies in the US come to be seen as the premier source for breaking news on the Middle East? This volume provides discussion of Al Jazeera English from its launch in 2006 through today and features analysis from scholars that assesses the channel’s origins, politics, global audience, and coverage of conflict and the Arab spring.

“AJE’s coverage, like that of any news organization, is far from perfect,” Seib notes. “It sometimes slips into cheerleading and self-congratulation, and it sometimes makes mistakes. Journalism is an imperfect craft, and AJE’s work is evidence of that. Nevertheless, the world of news is richer for having AJE as part of it.”

To purchase Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World, please click here.

For a complete list of all of Philip Seib’s books published by Palgrave Macmillan, please click here.