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Akhbar: The Quarterly Voice of I’lam / Issues Four & Five 1
 Akhbar Akhbar Akhbar Akhbar
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The Quarterly Voice of I’lam, Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel
Issues Four & Five January & April 2005
Uncovering the
Vox Popula
of ArabCitizens
 
On 17 May 2005, some 180 Arab and Jewish journalists, as well as representatives of foreign embassies, media academics andstudents, representatives of NGOs and thegeneral public attended I’lam’s presentation on “Patterns of Media Consumption andPerceptions of Media Reliability in Arab Societyin Israel,” held in Nazareth.Opening remarks delivered by I’lam DirectorHaneen Zoubi underlined the importance of the totality of the research project, not only tothe local and national media, but to the Arabsociety in Israel at large.Dr. Amal Jamal, head researcher for theproject, reviewed some of the more strikingelements to emerge from the research data,touching on how education, gender, identity,and religious and political attitudes influencemedia consumption patterns, and howpopularity of the media does not always reflectupon its reliability.Some of the findings: Arabs in Israel are heavyconsumers of a broad range of media. Asizable percentage of the Arab populationreads local Arabic newspapers, listens to bothArab and Hebrew radio broadcasts, andwatches Hebrew television channels alongsideArabic channels broadcasting from the Arabworld. One of the unexpected results was thatcommercial Arabic newspapers enjoy higherrates of consumption than party-affiliatednewspapers. The reasons given byrespondents are availability and habit morethan the supposed perceived objectivity orindependence.As regards the Hebrew media, the dataindicates low levels of daily Hebrew newspaperconsumption. While Yediot Ahronot is the mostheavily consumed newspaper, Haaretz enjoysthe highest levels of perceived reliability,trusted by the highest number of Arab readers.Further, Arab media consumers do not see theHebrew media as representing them (58.4%),but rather the position of the Israeliestablishment (64%). Moreover, 49% of thosesurveyed expressed their dissatisfaction withthe Hebrew coverage of the Arab society.Arab society takes advantage of developmentsin electronic media, particularly in the increaseof Arab channels broadcasting via satellite,being the most popular choice Al-Jazeera.Commentary on the data, presented byMustafa Kabaha, Media Lecturer at the OpenUniversity and Yemek Izraeel College and YarivTsfati, Professor at Haifa University, raisedminor critiques. Yariv Tsafati called for Jewish-Arab collaboration in conducting a comparativestudy held simultaneously as he emphasizedthe dynamism characterizing societalperceptions. Both, however, underlined andacknowledged the revolutionary importance of the research as the first thoroughlycomprehensive, non-commercial, academicresearch project of its kind, focusing on issuesof media consumption and its relationship toidentity amongst Arab citizens of Israel.Audience feedback during the discussionperiod, and at points during the presentationswas lively, and at times even controversial. Dr.Jamal put special attention to detail theimpartiality of his data collection process andcautioned against the misuse ormisrepresentation of the data presented. Healso encouraged others to make use of the rawdata to conduct more detailed academicstudies on specific issues, for example, genderand its relationship to media consumption.Findings are to be presented to the public andcompiled into comprehensive reports. Thisresearch is part of the “Responsible andProfessional Media” project.
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Further Research on its Way
The second part of the research project, anobjective diagnosis of the current state of theHebrew and Arabic media landscapes, initiatedin 2004, is progressing steadily.Monitoring of the Hebrew and Arabic media willbe shortly finished.
 
Akhbar: The Quarterly Voice of I’lam / Issues Four & Five 2
“Arabs Drop Viewer Ratings”: Settingthe Picture Right through our MediaRights Program
A main aim of I’lam’s work is to increaseArab representation and number of Arabworkers at all channels (Ch 1, 2, 10 andthe companies involved) and mediainstitutions (such as the IsraeliBroadcasting Authority, and the SecondBroadcasting Authority). To facilitate theachievement of this goal, I’lam gathersdata to assess the situation andshortcomings to be addressed, preparesposition papers, and submits lists of Arabhuman resources that could be included /employed in these media institutions.I’lam then arranges meetings with theresponsible authorities / bodies to presentour position and follow-up ondevelopments. In cases where there is adiscrepancy between legal obligations andon-the-ground developments, I’laminitiates legal steps.A disturbing revelation came out of onesuch meeting with representatives of current franchise holders and companiesthat participated in the tender process forChannel 2. Company representativesopenly stated that putting Arabs onscreen would result in a drop in viewerratings.I’lam countered that this assumption onthe attitude of the audience is aconsequence of the continuous absence of Arabs on the screen, underlining theimportance of changing this unbalancedmedia culture. In addition, ratingsamongst the Arab viewership would nodoubt rise with an increase in Arabvisibility in the media, offsetting anypotential losses.The question of why Arab employees arenot employed in positions behind thescenes also remains unanswered by thisconcern for a drop in ratings, asexpressed by company representatives.I’lam therefore insisted on theemployment of Arab camera, sound, andlight people, directors, editors, and othermedia professionals for work behind thecameras after delivering a list of Arabmedia human resources for considerationand is following developments closely.In the case of the Second BroadcastingAuthority (SBA), negotiations have givenway to legal action. In the regulations of the SBA as regards the percentage of programs, broadcasting schedules, andthe requirements for the hiring of professional and administrative staff,I’lam found clear evidence of policies andpractices that oppose the Human Dignityand Liberty Basic Law. This lawincorporates the equality principle asunderlined by the 1994 Supreme Courtpanel ruling.Following nine months of intensivenegotiations, including 13 meetings andheavy correspondence with theresponsible authorities, we concluded thatthe SBA is willing to accept the negativeimplications of their discriminatory andundemocratic policies for the sake of being loyal to a particular ideologicalpoint-of-view that totally excludes therights, needs and concerns of the Arabsociety in Israel. Since other moreconciliatory approaches and means havebeen exhausted, we believe that it is onlythrough legal challenges that this bodywill be compelled to change its policies.This inflexibility of the part of a large andinfluential media actor is alarming in lightof a clear trend from the governmenttowards more oppressive anddiscriminatory policies affecting the Arabcitizens of Israel. In addition, we arewitnessing a clear increase in anti-democratic trends regarding the Arabcitizens in Israeli society, as illustrated inrecent public opinion polls.I’lam is preparing a court appealchallenging regulations of the SBA on thegrounds that they violate basic democraticvalues of equality and collective rights. Inour appeal, I’lam will demand theimplementation of the Human Dignity andLiberty Basic Law. We estimate that theappeal, being launched together withAdalah and nine Jewish Israelis, will go tocourt in June 2005.
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Akhbar: The Quarterly Voice of I’lam / Issues Four & Five 3
Arab Journalists meet InternationalFederation of Journalists (IFJ)
On 18 April, Hans Verploeg, GeneralSecretary of the Nederlandse Verenigingvan Journalisten, and Jonathan Tasini,President of the Economic Future Group,both representing the InternationalFederation of Journalists (IFJ), met with13 journalists from the Arabic local mediain Nazareth. Emphasis was given to majorproblems encountered by Arab journalistsin Israel.The discussion covered internal issues -such as the lack of specialization amongstArab journalists, who are often required toedit political editorials one hour, whilecovering entertainment news in the next -and external problems, stemming from,for example, the role played bygovernment advertising disbursements(Lapam) in prohibiting the development of a strong and free Arab press. The localArabic media is generally highlydependent, both economically andotherwise, on Israeli governmentalinstitutions and private companies, thattend not to address themselves to Arabicsociety at all, allocating a mere 1 – 1.5%of the total advertising budget towardsthe targeting of this society.Participants agreed that fosteringprofessionalism must be coupled with anindividual and collective decision on thepart of Arab media actors at all levels, toend the economic dependency on Israelipublic and private advertising monies.Hence the need to foster and developindependent resources in order toadequately finance Arab mediainstitutions. A multi-day follow-up sessionwith the IFJ that specifically addressessome of the issues raised by the journalists is currently in the works.
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Building Bridges between Journalists
A lively debate and discussion came out of a meeting in Jerusalem on 14 Februarybetween twelve Arab and foreign journalists.The meeting covered both theoretical andpractical aspects of journalism in theregion. The theoretical topics coveredincluded the role of journalism, theexpectations of the Arab society from theinternational media, and the differencebetween news values, PR events, andmedia events. The practical part focusedon the way in which I’lam can provideforeign journalists with alternative sourcesof information and support in their work.The discussion that unfolded aroundtheoretical issues was very interesting andcontroversial. While Arab journalistsstressed the fact that there is a lack of coverage of issues related to Arab citizensof Israel in the foreign media, foreign journalists emphasized that they haveother priorities, and criticized the lack of initiative and visibility amongst Arabs inIsrael.Consequently Arab journalists stressedthat there are crucial and newsworthyissues that do not need special packagingor framing in order to be covered by theforeign media. This is the case with issuessuch as the new constitution, thecontinuous policy of land confiscation andhouse demolition, and official policiestowards the Arab citizens of Israel.Conversely, Arab journalists didacknowledge the need to present theissues concerning Arab society in a moreeffective way to the media.
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 Land Day Tour for Journalists
Yet another tour for journalists was held on 26 March, as part of Yom El Ard (Land Day30 March) activities. About 40 primarily Arab journalists attended the tour that visitedmany villages in the Upper Galilee, populated by internally displaced refugees of the1948 war. The tour aimed to empower the journalists by providing them with hands-onknowledge of the situation facing Arab citizens of Israel today.
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