Event reports
The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Ramallah and MIFTAH have been collaborating in improving the media since 2010. The common project „Promoting Good Governance through Empowering Media Students: A Critical Reading of Print Media“ was being initiated through the creation of a media observing analyst group. On this topic, journalism students are being offered practical lectures, workshops and trainings concerning responsible reporting and helping the students to critically receive the media.
The fourth of this year’s five presentations took place on 17 October at al-Aroub College near Hebron, with 35 media students and journalists participating. The students analysed the reporting of the three major daily newspapers („al-Quds“, „al-Ayyam“ and „al-Hayat al-Jadida“) after the reconciliation memorandum between Fatah and Hamas in April 2011.
All three newspapers reported on the reconciliation memorandum between Fatah and Hamas. While al-Ayyam correctly considered it a Memorandum of Understanding, al-Quds and al-Hayat al-Jadida claimed that a reconciliation agreement had already been signed in their respective cover titles. This actually happened only a few days later. Additionally, al-Quds correctly named it a Memorandum of Understanding. Al-Hayat al-Jadida received praise for being the only one of the three newspapers highlighting the reaction of the Israeli government on the front page. The students considered this to be of vital interest because the prospect for reconciliation between the Palestinian parties depends also on Israel.
As a result, in the sector of independent reporting there is still much to be done. Decisions on how a topic is covered are made by various editors, who do not coordinate their work effectively. Therefore, decision-making inside the editorial boards has to be reformed. These scores, the non-partisan and critical work of a journalist, are the core issues of the collaboration between the KAS Ramallah and the MIFTAH.
