Abstract

It has since been eleven years since the rise of the “Arab Spring”: a series of anti-government uprisings that spread across the Arab world, ultimately leading to regime changes in several countries including Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Using social media and other digital platforms to communicate and strategize, pro-democracy activists demanded increased transparency and freedom from their long-serving leaders. This special issue has sought to probe ways through which journalism is evolving in non-Western societies over a decade since the protests began. Articles accepted in this issue adopted several methodological and theoretical approaches to appraise the current state of journalism in the “developing” world questioning what influences, if any, the protests had. We sought to contribute to knowledge on ways through which the “Arab Spring” was impacting journalism practices in the Arab world and beyond. It’s our hope that findings presented in this issue will enlighten new insights and inspire new research endeavors on the transformation of journalism in the Arab World and indeed other “Southern” nations particularly as it relates to digital realms.

摘要

自“阿拉伯之春”兴起以来已经过去了十一年：一系列反政府起义蔓延到整个阿拉伯世界，最终导致突尼斯、埃及和利比亚等几个国家的政权更迭。使用社交媒体和其他数字平台进行交流和制定战略，民主活动人士要求他们长期服务的领导人提高透明度和自由度。本期特刊试图探讨自抗议活动开始以来的十多年来新闻业在非西方社会中的发展方式。本期接受的文章采用了几种方法论和理论方法来评估“发展中”世界的新闻业现状，质疑抗议活动的影响（如果有的话）。我们试图为“阿拉伯之春”如何影响阿拉伯世界及其他地区的新闻实践提供知识。我们希望本期的调查结果能够启发新的见解，并激发关于阿拉伯世界和其他“南方”国家新闻业转型的新研究努力，尤其是与数字领域相关的新闻业。