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Presenting the Second Report of the Media Monitoring Unit

MIFTAH at the Al-Quds University

On 27 May 2010, the Media Monitoring Unit of The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH – presented the findings of its second report which was developed in the context of the project "Critical reading of Print Media". The presentation took place at the Academic Media Department of Al-Quds University which is the oldest of the three media departments to be found at Palestinian universities.

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The presentation started off with a rather technical, but essential issue for journalists working in the print media sector – the combination of picture and text in an article. According to Mr. Ruham Nimri, the coordinator of the Media Monitoring Unit, the motif and the placing of the picture are of equal importance when it comes to attracting the reader’s attention to an article.

The second part of the presentation dealt with the local elections which are scheduled to take place at July 17 in the West Bank. According to the analysis of the Media Monitoring Unit, media coverage of the event has been scarce. One possible reason is that Palestinian journalists fear the loss of their reputation as neutral observers if they cover the preparation process of the local elections. This has to do with the Hamas neither nominating candidates for the elections, nor holding elections in the Gaza Strip, thus creating the impression that the elections are a popularity test for Fatah only. Another explanation would be that many journalists simply do not believe that local elections will take place in July 2010 – and therefore see no reason for reporting on the preparations.

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