20 October 2010
A group of Palestinian journalists have discussed yesterday, the impact of self censorship on the Palestinian media, during the monthly consultative meeting, which was held in the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) office in Ramallah city. The meeting based on the findings and recommendations of MADA’s study “the impact of violations on self-censorship among Palestinian media workers" which was that prepared by the journalist and researcher Mahmoud Fataftah.
The Journalists have spoken about the multiple kinds of censorships in the Palestinian territories, in particular about self-censorship. They separated between the positive self-censorship: which is affected by the journalist’s professional and conscience, and the negative self-censorship that affected by the accumulation of official, institutional and societal censorship. In the same time some of the journalists assumed that the journalists shouldn’t use “the positive self-censorship" as an idiom.
The participants agreed that the most dangerous types of censorship is self-censorship among Palestinian journalists, which was enhanced significantly after the internal division that resulted from Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid June 2007. They also agreed that the censorship which exercised by the media outlets on its journalists is a serious matter, that limits the creativity of the journalist, and local media development.
At the end of the meeting, the participants recommended on the need to break the barrier of self-censorship among journalists, and to maximize using the available freedom of expression. They also emphasized on the need to raise awareness of the media students at Palestinian universities on the seriousness of self-censorship on journalists. They also called the media outlets to give up the censorship on the journalist’s creativity, and to give them full freedom in writing their reports, news and investigations.
Contact:
Riham Abu Aita
Public Relation Officer
Ramallah
HYPERLINK "mailto:riham@madacenter.org" riham@madacenter.org
00970 2 2976519
