Reporting
diversity for Jewish and Arab Israeli journalism students
Region:
Israel
When:
2006-2007
Scale:
Small
Micro- < $15,000
Small-$15,000-$100,000
Medium-$100,000-$500,000
Large-$500,000-$1 million
Very large- >$1 million
Partners:
Media and Communications Department, Emek Yezreel College (Israel)
Funders:
The European Cultural Foundation
Project objectives:
The aim is to raise the media diversity awareness of students at the Media and Communications Department, Emek Yezreel College, and to offer them skills training in reporting diversity techniques. The project will contribute to inter-ethnic understanding within Israel and beyond by:
•
introducing the concept of diversity reporting into journalistic and editorial thinking at the outset of the participants' careers;
•
building relationships between Jewish-Israelis and Arab-Israelis embarking on media careers;
•
publishing a newspaper supplement that:
•
explores and embraces Israel's cultural diversity;
•
provides a positive example of inter-ethnic cooperation as a model for peaceful problem-solving in the region;
•
overturns assumptions about 'other' groups, replacing stereotypes with real human faces.
Project
activities:
A group of 24 Jewish and Arab undergraduate journalism students from the Media and Communications Department of the Emek Yezreel College will tackle the issues surrounding reporting on ethnic otherness in a RD course, which offers a mix of theory and practical work. (Located in northern Israel, near Nazareth, the college has a mixture of about 75% Jewish-Israeli students and 25% Arab- Israeli students).
The intense teamwork involved will promote co-operation and integration between the mixed Jewish-Arab group of students. The course will include discussions, role-plays, simulations, plus a production element - a 24-page, bi-lingual newspaper supplement, as in 2004, or a webzine with the same lay-out, or a video. Each student will be expected to produce a piece. If produced as a newspaper - one Arabic-language and one Hebrew-language newspaper will carry the supplement, ensuring circulation throughout northern Israel.
