MEYI News & Media Alert (7 March 2008)

*** Tune in! ***

National Public Radio's (NPR) Marketplace program has launched The Middle East @ WORK project to cover stories and viewpoints from Cairo and Dubai. As part of this project, the team at NPR has been consulting with the Middle East Youth Initiative on various story fronts. On March 3, Diane Singerman, Associate Professor in the Department of Government at American University and the Middle East Youth Initiative featured scholar, was interviewed to discuss current issues facing young people, including marriage in Egypt. Audio casts and related resources are available online at the Marketplace website.

In collaboration with the Middle East Youth Initiative, BBC World Service (Persian) aired a series of stories on Middle East youth covering issues of education, employment, and marriage. The stories were aired four times a day on March 1, 2, and 3, 2008, with interviews from Navtej Dhillon, Djavad Salehi Isfahani, and Diane Singerman. Audio casts (in Persian) can be found in the Multimedia section.

*** Shababinclusion.org news ***

In his recent commentary "Are Iranian Women Overeducated?" Djavad Salehi-Isfahani dispels mounting local concerns about the increase of female university enrollment. In his piece, he illustrates how the trend toward feminization of higher education is a natural consequence of economic development.

Navtej Dhillon challenges current US policy in the Middle East in his recent commentary "Boosting Smart Power: The United States Role in the Middle East." View his video and share your feedback online. New editorials are also available in "Point of View," with topics ranging from social and economic implications of delayed marriage to analysis of Morocco's recent drop in unemployment.

The Middle East Youth Initiative is pleased to announce the launch of a new Multimedia section on our website. This resource contains interviews with Middle East Youth Initiative scholars, video clips from events and news programs, and more. New Content will be added as it arrives, so please check back frequently.

The Middle East Youth Initiative was quoted in the lead story of the New York Times on Sunday, February 17, which was the first of a series on Middle East youth. The article discussed the social implications of economic challenges families face in the current context of the region's youth bulge.

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