William Freivogel 
SIU Foundation 
Media Cities: The Concept and the Practice
the case of Beirut, Cairo and Dubai
The Global Media Research Center is pleased to sponsor a lecture and discussion with MCMA Doctoral Candidate Joe Khalil on Thursday, October 16th at 4:30 p.m. in Communications Room 1032.
Mr. Khalilís presentation explores how one source of media investment is developing a regional economy which in turn fosters particular notions of political democracy. Using the case of Saudi official and private investments in Arab television, this presentation explores the emergence of Beirut, Cairo and Dubai as regional media cities. Following a media industries approach, this presentation integrates three broad issues in an analytical framework (1) The complex relations between television investment and political democracy (2) the process of regionalization and localization of media production (3) youth as a strategic target audience.
Joe F. Khalil is a Ph.D. Candidate at SIUC. Prior to graduate school, he was a television executive producer and a director with leading Arab networks and a television production instructor. More recently, he spent eight months conducting research in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He is currently writing his dissertation on youth-generated media and a monograph on Arab entertainment television. He is a recipient of the Excellence for Commitment Graduate Student Research Award for 2008 and a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation.
This is a free event and all are welcome. GMRC has an attendance-taking system in place for those who are interested in offering this as an extra-credit opportunity for students. For more information, please contact Laura Germann at
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or 618-453-6876.
