Dr Zahera Harb
Senior Lecturer in International Journalism
Department of Journalism
E: zahera.harb.1@city.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)20 7040 8964
Overview and research interests
Dr Zahera Harb is a Lebanese journalist and academic. Her recent publications include a monograph titled Channels of Resistance: Liberation propaganda Hezbollah and the Media (I.B. Tauris, 2011). She is a review editor for the Journal of Media Practice.
Dr Harb has 11 years' experience as a journalist in Lebanon working for Lebanese and international media organisations. She started as a news reporter and distinguished herself in particular in the coverage of war operations in the battlefield of South Lebanon. She was then co-producer and presenter of a popular socio-political programme (Khamseh Ala Sabaah, 5/7) before becoming one of the main news anchors at Tele Liban (the public service TV in Lebanon). At New TV she was appointed to a news anchor-editor post and hosted the main daily political show (Al Hadath). At Future TV (Pan Arab satellite channel) she produced and presented her own socio-political programme (Ala Madar Assaa) while assigned as satellite news editor. She also produced several political and social documentaries for Lebanese TV stations and completed reporting assignments for BBC Arabic service (radio), CNN world report and Dutch TV. She hosted live coverage of distinguished political events inside and outside Lebanon.
Dr Harb was trained in Holland and the UK and has a BA in Journalism, a Diploma in Broadcasting News and an MA and PhD in Journalism Studies and Political Communications.
She has been on the consultancy board of the Thomson Foundation UK for four years conducting media training in the UK and other parts of the world including Egypt, Malta, Spain, Armenia, Ukraine, Brussels, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi.
Research interests
Dr Harb has taken part in three main research projects since 2002: the perception of news after September 11, the embedded reporting of the 2003 Iraq war, and immigration and inclusion in south east Wales in 2008. Her research interests also include mediating conflicts, journalism ethics and citizen journalism.
Publications
Books, journal articles and book chapters
- Matar, D. and Harb Z. Narrating 'conflict' in the Middle East: Communication Practices in Palestine and Lebanon, I.B.Tauris, forthcoming 2012.
- Harb, Z. (2011) Arab Revolutions and the Social Media Effect, Media and Culture Journal, volume 14, issue 2, May 2011.
- Harb, Z. (2011) Channels of Resistance: Liberation propaganda, Hezbollah and the Media, I.B.Tauris, London.
- Harb, Z (2009). 'Grapes of Unity facing Grapes of Wrath': Objectivity and War Reporting. In: Arnim Heinemann, Olfa Lamloum, Anne Francoise Weber, ed. The Middle East in the Media: Conflicts: Censorship and Public Opinion. Al Saqi Books, London.
- Harb, Z. (2009) The July 2006 War and the Lebanese blogsphere: towards an alternative media tool in covering wars, Journal of Media Practice Volume 10, Number 2 & 3 (2009) 255-258.
- Harb, Z. (2009) Aiming at Liberation, Al Manar media Campaigns against the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon (1998-2000), Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 2 (2009) 51-75.
- Harb, Z., (2008) Covering the Qana 'Massacre' 1996: A Case of Contextual Objectivity, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, 1 (2008) 138-155.
- Harb Z. and Bessaiso, E. (2006), British Arab Muslim Audiences and Television after September 11; Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 32 No 6, August 2006, pp.1063-1076.
Research reports
- Terry Threadgold, Sadie Clifford, Zahera Harb, Abdi Arwo, Vanessa Powell, Xinyi Jiang and John Jewell, Immigration and inclusion in south-east Wales, (2008), Joseph Rowntree Foundation, YPS York Publishing Services.
- Co-author: Too Close for Comfort? The Role of Embedded Reporting During the 2003 Iraq War. Summary Report (2004). British Broadcasting Corporation.
Book reviews
- Review of Noha Mellor et al. book, Arab Media, in Journalism Practice Journal (2012), DOI:10.1080/17512786.2011.650886.
- Review of Eytan Gilboa's book, 'Media and Conflict' in Media Culture and Society Journal, Volume 26, Issue 04, July 2004, pp. 591, 595.
- Review of Nicholas Jackson O'Shaughnessy's book 'Politics and Propaganda Weapons of Mass Seduction' in Political Communication Journal, Volume 1, issue 3, December 2005, pp. 325-335.
- Review of Naomi Sakr's edited book 'Women and media in the Middle East: power through self-expression' in Social Semiotics Journal, volume 16, number 2, June 2006, pp. 390-393.