The Palestinian media is currently on the long road to become a serious and truly independent force inside the Territories. It plays a major role in influencing the public discourse and opinion. But there are still various obstacles and furthermore, there is a need for more accurate reporting and nonbiased information. Concerted efforts are needed to reshape the Palestinian media in a way that would put it on equal footing with the international standards.

These beliefs create important intersections between the work of MIFTAH (The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy) and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Ramallah. Since 1996, KAS has been present with its office in the Palestinian Territories where it promotes not only democracy and the Rule of Law but also the development of a free and independent media. MIFTAH, a Palestinian NGO founded in 1999, also works to strengthen the position of the media.

Therefore, KAS Ramallah is supporting the MIFTAH project “Promoting Good Governance through Empowering Media Students: A Critical Reading of Print Media.” We agreed to start the project by initiating a “Media Monitoring” unit to monitor and follow up the media coverage presented by the Palestinian printed media outlets. The aim is to offer media students at Palestinian universities practice-oriented presentations, workshops and training on responsible reporting that will hopefully lead to the establishment of critical reading and responsible media courses in the future.

This publication is the summary of the first phase of this project which consisted i.a. of five presentations held in the course of 2010. The topics of these presentations included subjects like the clashes between Palestinians and Egyptian security forces at the Palestinian–Egyptian border in January and the enforcement of the death penalty by the Ministry of Interior of the dismissed Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip for two persons convicted of collaborating with Israel.

The students had to compare the coverage of these and other events in three different newspapers. The main findings are that the newspapers were not only reporting the events in different narratives, but also to a different extent. Furthermore, the phrasing and the placement of the headline as well as the adoption of pictures was used to influence the reader. The main reason for these discrepancies between the newspapers is their political bias which affects their editorial work to a large extent. Therefore, the report is crucial to increase public awareness of the effect the media has on shaping perceptions.

To order a copy kindly contact Mr. Jörg Knocha, E-mail: Joerg.Knocha@kas.de