This article has three aims. First, it aims to explain how media framing forms a central soft power tool utilized by states for the political control of social groups antagonistic to the states’ dominant ideology. For that purpose it addresses Israeli state efforts to penetrate the native Arab community that remained within its borders after the 1948 war, seeking to create submissive ‘quiet Arab’ citizens. Second, it examines the role of Jewish-Arab (Mizrahi) professional opinion-makers in creating and maintaining this framing. Third, it demonstrates that efforts made by states to influence ‘captive audiences’ by media outlets in the global age can be successful only if they meet the needs of the target community.
Will the revolutionary changes of the “Arab Spring” result in more open and democratic media in the affected countries in the Middle East and North Africa? Using developments in Tunisia as a case study, the authors argue that democratically reformed media, Internet, and spectrum policies can lead to a more enabling and pluralistic environment that encourages new market entrants. Progress has been made, but ongoing challenges in structural and institutional reforms remain. The authors make a series of policy recommendations in the hope that Tunisia can be a model for its regional and global peers.