More than 100 Palestinian journalists from the West Bank
and Gaza Strip came together to discuss their role in
a society that is becoming increasingly divided along
geographic and political lines.
The journalists came together for a 3-day conference
entitled, "Palestinian Media: Fourth Estate or
Exacerbating Internal Strife?" organized by the
Jerusalem-based Arab Media Network (AMIN).
The conference participants came up with a list of terms
deemed to be "inciteful" and creating added tension
between Fatah and Hamas. The actions of some journalists
were deemed to be "increasing the chances for more
fighting and destroying the social fabric of
Palestinian society," according to the
conference's closing statement.
The conference featured a heated debate between the
head of the state-run Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation,
Basem Abu Sumaya, and Fathi Hammad, the head of the
PBC's main rival, Al-Aqsa TV.
Hammad promised during his videoconference speech to end
the use of all terminology in the list. Abu Samaya promised
to allow Hamas representatives on the state-run radio and TV.
The journalists lamented the role of the semi-defunct
Palestinian Journalists' Union, which has been headed
by Naim Toubasi for more than two decades. Elections for
a new union leader have not been held for 12 years,
and most Palestinian journalists are not members of the
union. The journalists said they would lobby the Palestinian
Authority to enact a Media Law that would force new
union elections and empower the union to defend its members.
"We wanted to create a dialogue between
Palestinian journalists in this era of internal
division and strife," said Khaled Abu Aker,
who co-founded AMIN in 1996. "We want the
Palestinian journalist to be a media
professional, not some tool to be used by
politicians who took advantage of the
Palestinian media to incite the public.
This has led to the demise of Palestinian
journalism."
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