Dr Omar Al-Ghazzi

Dr Omar Al-Ghazzi

Associate Professor

Department of Media and Communications

Telephone
020 7955 7957
Room No
FAW.7.01C
Office Hours
By appointment on Student Hub
Connect with me

Languages
Arabic, English
Key Expertise
Journalism, Activism, Collective Memory, Middle East, North Africa

About me

Dr Omar Al-Ghazzi is Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. He works on the geopolitics of global communications, particularly in relation to news media and popular culture. He is interested in the politics that shape the ways we talk about and use communications technologies, as well as the role of media in forging our imaginaries of the past and the future. In his research, he draws on his expertise on Arabic media and on the Middle East and North Africa region. His peer-reviewed work has appeared in communications, journalism and cultural studies journals including Communication TheoryJournalism, and the International Journal of Communication. He is currently completing a book on the politics of history in Arab media. Al-Ghazzi is an editor in the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. 

Dr Al-Ghazzi earned his PhD from The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds MAs in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania and American University and a BA in Communication Arts from the Lebanese American University. Prior to joining LSE, he was Lecturer in Journalism at The University of Sheffield.

Expertise Details

Global Communication; Comparative Journalism; Digital Activism; Collective Memory; Popular Culture; Media & War; Middle East and North Africa

Publications

Research

Dr Al-Ghazzi’s research investigates the global disparities of power embedded in our understanding of media and communication technologies’ role in society. He is interested in questions around how media can shape our understanding and imagination of the past and the future. As a former journalist, he also researches the politics and ethics of war and conflict reporting. He draws on theories in global communications, journalism studies, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, and history and collective memory studies. His scholarship is comparative in relation to geography (MENA-global North), temporality (past and present), and media technology (mass and social media).

Dr Al-Ghazzi is currently completing a book manuscript on the mediation of history in Arab world. He was principal investigator of an LSE Middle East Centre-funded project, “Arab News Futures,” about the future of Arabic news making. He was lead researcher for UNESCO’s flagship report World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: Regional Overview of the Arab Region (2019). 

He is an editor of the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication and serves on the editorial boards of JournalismJournalism PracticeInternational Journal of Communication, and Arab Media & Society.

He has been interviewed about his research expertise including by BBC News, BBC Arabic, Al-Jazeera English, Euronews and LBC radio.

Teaching and supervision

Postgraduate teaching

Dr Al-Ghazzi convenes the postgraduate optional course Mediating the Past, and contributes to team-taught postgraduate Media and Communications courses relating to theories, concepts and research methodologies.

Doctoral supervision

Dr Al-Ghazzi welcomes applications from prospective doctoral researchers relating to his areas of research. He is currently interested in supervising PhD topics ranging from digital journalism, popular culture and geopolitics, activism, populism, and collective memory.