It is usually during the time of crises such as wars that the role of the pan-Arab news media comes to the fore in Western attention and debates. It is then that Arab coverage of conflicts and wars is put under systematic scrutiny and continuously compared and contrasted to coverage in European and/or American news media. It is also here that the “clash of voices” emerges as a hidden assumption behind the scrutiny of why news coverage has particular features in each cultural context. I have previously overviewed the accusations exchanged between Arab and American professionals regarding the coverage of the Iraq War, where the central issue was those professionals' interpretations of the information – statements as well as images – on the war.

This misinterpretation of each other's media coverage is indeed proof of the increasing “reflexivity” in the new global media sphere, where media professionals constantly accentuate their professional and ethical differences. It also suggests the existence of a global media sphere where not only the events (what) are constantly under scrutiny, but also the way (how) they are mediated.

The accusations made against Arab news media by some Western journalists reflect a tension between two “interpretive communities.” Thus, analysis of the journalistic product from several communities may shed light on the difference between the values and the function of news in each community, and how the notion of “outsiderness” of the professional practices of one community vis-à-vis another is formed.