A Preface
by Dr. Tayseer Mashareqa*
This report
that deals with the freedom of press in Palestine and the violations
against it is based on UN principles and articles of the International
Declaration of Human Rights, and article 19 in particular.
This report
deserves to be evaluated as an organized and effective effort by the team
of: Alia Siksik as researcher, with support from Maher Farraj, Izzeddin
al-Ruzzi, Walid Hadi and Roula Haddad, who together managed to record the
evolving press experiment under the PNA (1994-1999).
This
research approaches some of the abuses against the journalism profession
in this phase of the Palestinian struggle to obtain their own independent
free press. The report also discusses the phenomena of self-censorship
among Palestinian journalists after the PA has cancelled the old fashioned
sword of censorship.
The
historical importance of this report springs out from the fact that it
registers an important stage on the road to Palestinian independence from
a free journalistic angle, and the freedom of expression in the democratic
change.
It would be
wrong to take in the contents of this report with excessive sensitivity,
because that would harm the subjective value at this time when we need
transparency in order to find the path towards our national goals. This
report that played the role of the subjective monitor that recorded our
faults and mistakes opens our eyes so that we carefully observe and
discover our negative practices, so as to evaluate and straighten our
march at this time when we are building our democracy.
The report
contained basic information that summarized our reality in media, and the
size of suffering that journalists face while on duty. It reflects a
difficult stage of joy and independence making. All the detailed
information, the testimonies, the tables, and the article of Omar Nazzal
on the audio-visual stations, all that built up a remarkable picture of
our current situation, and drew a map in a serious attempt to up-grade and
develop our media performance.
The
researcher and the team who prepared this report faced a hard time and
technical and linguistic obstacles regarding the testimonies taken from
journalists who were abused, and it was hard for them to speak up and tell
as they felt the heavy responsibility behind that. It wasn’t easy to
record the exact details as those violations occurred in dark rooms behind
closed doors. Yet the process of gathering those testimonies and recording
them hold in itself the heritage of suffering and struggle of those abused
journalists and touches on a socio-political problem that reflects the
amount of the pull and push operation that is involved in the media
movement at a time when a media system is evolving. And if we are at
present putting down the foundations for a state that values democracy,
then we should consider the media as a monitoring tool that we have to
respect and look after.
It is
important, therefore, to appreciate the important role that the
Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group PHRMG plays in its aspirations
for a civil society based on establishments, the rule of laws, democracy
and human rights, and the freedom of expression is considered at the top
of that.
The report
has been reviewed and evaluated by a number of academics and the Ministry
of Information, whose response was useful specially Mr. Abdallah al-Horani
and Maher al-Masri, Director of press and publications, such responses
increase the discussion and highlights the questions addressed in this
report. Once again I highly appreciate the work of the researcher Alia
Siksik and her colleagues who participated in the preparation of this
report that I refer to as a reference to media students, historians and
decision-makers because of its value of documentation for an important
phase in the life of the Palestinian people.
*Dr Tayseer Masharqa is a researcher in Education, Media
and Communication at
Birzeit University
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