The Social and Political Role of the Media in the Middle East on the Example of Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya Channels (the End of the 20th - Beginning of the 21st Century)

Nowadays Arab media are in the process of reformation. In recent decades, a variety of media are considered to have become an alternative to American-British newspaper industry. In addition, Arab media include not only paper options, they are known to own the Arab satellite television channels such as Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, which received the greatest recognition among professionals in the area of television journalism. On the one hand, these news agencies are called by many leading politicians throughout the world "tools of “soft power” involved in the domestic and foreign political life of the Arab states, and, on the other hand, these channels play the role of ideological actors considerably promoting the state priorities of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Media have a huge manipulative force and make a comprehensive impact on the consciousness of both the citizens of their country and representatives of foreign audience. They form a certain picture of the world by the readers, offer their assessment of the events taking place, which does not always coincide with the view point of the official authorities, which leads to issues in the relations between media and government in the Middle East region.