Tarek Cherkaoui is the manager of the TRT World Research Centre. He is the author of “The News Media at War: The Clash of Western and Arab Networks in the Middle East” (I.B. Tauris, 2017). Cherkaoui holds a master’s degree in strategic studies from the National University of Malaysia, and a PhD in media and communication from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. His broader research themes include international relations, strategic communications, public diplomacy, and media-military relations- specifically within a Middle Eastern context.