Reporting Diversity for Jewish and Arab Israeli Journalism Students

A continuation of the successful project set up in 2004. This time a new generation of Jewish and Arab undergraduate journalism students from the Emek Yezreel College near Nazareth, have explored their own experience of otherness, coexistence and inclusion, especially in the aftermath of the recent crisis in the Middle East.  The students decided whether to produce a bi-lingual newspaper supplement, as in the pilot or to set up a webzine, or produce a video.

The aim of this project was 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

Region/country: Israel

Timeframe/dates: 2006/2007

Funder: The European Cultural Foundation

Partners: Media and Communications Department, Emek Yezreel College (Israel)