The nature and role of the Arab press in the Arab foreign policy

The study is an attempt to explore the nature and role of the Arab press in the Arab foreign policy. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first effort to investigate empirically the relationship between the press and foreign policy in a regional context. The Arab region which consists of 22 sovereign and independent Arab states was selected to conduct this research. However, 4 Arab countries were chosen, as a sample, for their active influential and participative role in Arab foreign policy and diplomacy. This study has two levels of investigation: the general level and the particular one. Under the general level there are three aims. (1) The main aim is to investigate the nature and role of the national (domestic) Arab press in Arab foreign policy. (2) The second aim is to investigate the nature and role of the emigre Arab press in Arab foreign policy. (3) The subordinate aim is the investigate the relationship between the Arab press and the intelligence service. Under the particular level, there are two revealing case studies. The first one between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the second one between Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Both case studies investigate the role of the various Arab press in the foreign policy and diplomacy of those selected countries.;For this study, I interviewed prominent Arab officials and Arab journalists in four major Arab capitals: Beirut, Damascus, Cairo and Riyadh. Also some Arab officials and Arab journalists were interviewed in London because this Western capital has become significant for the emigre Arab press.