If you were a writer spotlighting Israeli Arab media issues for a magazine like the
Columbia Journalism Review, your reporting would include interviews with veteran Israeli Arab journalists, media personalities, news directors and other heavyweights who have since retired or moved on to other things.
Your context would note that the
only free Arab media in the Mideast is in Israel.
You would certainly make a crystal clear distinction between Israeli Arab media (under the jurisdiction of Israel) and Palestinian media (in the West Bank under the jurisdiction of the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority, or in Hamas-ruled Gaza).
And you absolutely wouldn’t let yourself be played into promoting one of those news services.
Whither the heavyweights?
There are plenty of successful veteran Israeli Arab journalists who would share their warts-and-all insights on maintaining a balance between their professional life and personal identities. A who’s who of Israeli Arab journalists would include personalities such as
- Lucy Aharish — the first Arab Muslim news presenter on mainstream Hebrew-language Israeli TV.
- Ali Waked — head of i24 News’ Arabic division.
- Zouheir Bahloul — longtime sports journalist and recently retired Knesset member.
- Khaled Abu Toameh — the Jerusalem Post’s Palestinian affairs correspondent.
- Ayman Sikseck — Haaretz columnist whose short stories, poems and literary criticism have raised his profile.
- Shibel Karmi Mansour — Druze news anchor on TV and radio.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Instead, Berger’s window into Israeli Arab journalism is provided primarily by Majd Daniel, Ameer Khatib and Rafaat Abu Aish, a trio of obscure twentysomething freelancers living in Israel. (Unlike regular journalists who are directly employed by a news service and receive a regular salary, freelancers are their own bosses and are paid on an hourly or daily basis.)
These three haven’t been around long enough to have a broader view of the Israeli Arab media landscape. Thus, we’re treated to chestnuts like this:
Israeli Arabs, or Palestinians?
Blurring the differences between Israeli Arabs and Palestinians doesn’t serve anyone’s interests, especially when writing for foreign audiences. People seeing the CJR’s headline declaring that “Palestinian citizens of Israel struggle to tell their stories” will assume this is another story about “occupation.”
Berger repeatedly refers to “Palestinian citizens of Israel,” “the Palestinian press inside Israel,” and “Palestinians inside Israel” in the reporters’ voice. One freelancer refers to himself as a “Palestinian Arab.”
The result simply conflates Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. And that’s a shame because the Israeli press — whether in Hebrew, Arabic or any other language — enjoys press freedom, while the Palestinian press operating in the West Bank and Gaza does not. So the conversation the Columbia Journalism Review wants to have about Israeli Arab journalism is skewed from the get-go.
If Berger’s opening the door on press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza, then she needs to elaborate on the PA’s most recent
restrictions on online expression and Hamas
detaining(and assaulting?) the director of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
But that would spoil the mood Berger and her freelancers create.
(full article online)
How Free is the Israeli Arab Media? | HonestReporting