The media has a fundamental role in shaping and directing public opinion and is the most influential means of communication available to individuals. In light of the importance of this role, all countries and political and social forces are directly dependent on the media to deliver their message and ideas to the public.

Since the nature of human life is based on interaction between people and among nations, the media readily contributes to such exchange due to its relatively low financial cost and the ability of many people to obtain technology that allows them to receive media broadcasts. The enormous technological progress in modern communications in general, and the Internet in particular, has made the media available round the clock and allows people to follow up on what is happening in the world moment by moment. Therefore, the great powers that enjoy influence in the world, and those that seek to have influence on world public opinion, realized very early on the importance of the media in achieving their goals. Those countries have targeted certain areas to broadcast what they deem as useful in order to achieve their policy aims. In the Arab region, for example, we find that the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has operated its Arabic section since 1938. The BBC broadcasts in the languages of many Muslim nations including Farsi, Pashto, Somali, Hausa, Uzbek, among others. Not only the British, but also the German Nazis were keen to make their voice heard in the Arab World through their Radio Berlin service. Later during the Cold War foreign media characterized the international scene for four decades (1945–1990) through Radio Free Europe, established by the United States.