The General Assembly of the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) held its annual meeting in Ramallah, July 12, 2012. They discussed and approved both the financial and administrative reports and elected a new administrative council for the Center. The new board members are Dr. Ghazi Hanania, Lubna Al-Ashkar, Majed Arori, Saleh Hakawati, Nahid Abu T’ema, Dr. Taleb Awad, Hussein Shabaneh, Nihad Abu Ghosh, and Sanaa Aranki.
MADA’s administrative report for 2011 reported a substantial increase in the Center's work at various levels. MADA achieved many successes, conducted numerous activities, held several awareness workshops, and expanded the Center’s partnerships with both local Palestinian and international organizations, MADA was elected to the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) council, and initiated the establishment of the coalition to Defend Freedom of Expression in Palestine.
The administrative report also reviewed the implementation of MADA’s programs, especially the monitoring and documentation of media freedoms and violations in its monthly and annual reports, where MADA monitored 206 violations of media freedoms during the past year.
The report also evaluated the legal unit program, which seeks to defend journalists by providing free legal advice, holding awareness workshops, and issuing Palestine’s first legal guides for journalists. The advocacy and campaign program also implemented several activities, most important of which were the campaign to stop Israeli attacks on journalists and the campaign to end the effects of internal division on the media.
In addition, the report highlighted several publications, such as the great success of the new “MADA El-Elam” magazine, as well as three major studies that the Center produced: “New Media and Freedom of Opinion and Expression in Palestine – Facebook Model,” “Legal Regulation of Media Freedom in Palestine,” and “The Media Effect on the Palestinian Division – Palestine TV and Aqsa TV Model.” MADA also produced two short videos , one about the suffering of photojournalists during their professional duty and another about journalists killed by Israeli occupation forces during the past decade.
