Media coverage
Al-Resalah Net · 2018-01-15
PalThink for Strategic Studies in the Gaza Strip held its seventh lecture, titled “Media and Democratic Education,” as part of the project “Promoting Democratic and Civic Values Among Youth,” with the participation of 20 young men and women from various universities and governorates. Omar Shaban and Hani Habib stressed the importance of the media in strengthening democratic culture and acceptance of differing opinions, and discussed restrictions imposed by authorities on media outlets and laws that hinder journalistic work in Palestine, including the Cybercrime Law.
PalThink for Strategic Studies in the Gaza Strip held its seventh lecture, titled “Media and Democratic Education,” as part of the project “Promoting Democratic and Civic Values Among Youth,” with the participation of 20 young men and women from various universities and governorates. Omar Shaban an…
PalThink for Strategic Studies in the Gaza Strip held the seventh lecture, titled "Media and Democratic Education," as part of the project "Enhancing Democratic and Civic Values Among Youth."
Twenty young men and women from various universities and governorates across the Strip participated in the lecture.
The lecture was opened by Omar Shaban, Director of PalThink for Strategic Studies, who welcomed the young male and female participants and the presenter of the lecture, writer and political analyst Hani Habib.
Shaban emphasized the importance of media outlets in promoting a culture of democracy in society, pointing to the need to remove obstacles and impediments preventing the media from operating freely within the framework of law and a democratic political system.
He also pointed to the importance of accepting the other opinion regardless of differences between individuals and party affiliations in order to reach a democratic society capable of accepting others.
The lecture was delivered by writer and political analyst Hani Habib, who spoke about the importance of media outlets in promoting democratic education within the political system and society.
He said: "The role of the media in promoting democratic education has two aspects: the first is providing information, and the second is free discussions and contradictory and differing opinions in a context of respect for the other opinion."
Habib reviewed the manifestations of media in despotic and authoritarian states, where the media is subordinate to the authorities.
He pointed out that the existence of a Ministry of Information in any country indicates that this country is far from democracy, stressing that the mission of the media in democratic countries is to defend the public, not to defend the authority, and to disseminate the knowledge that the authority wants in order to justify its positions.
Habib discussed with the youth the most prominent restrictions imposed by authorities to limit the work of media outlets, especially in terms of licensing and commercial and financial restrictions on the import of tools and equipment, in addition to the control exercised by authoritarian states over the entry points of media outlets.
He added, "Promoting democratic culture requires great effort and more time for societies to transform toward democracy."
During the lecture, he also addressed societies in transition that seek to become democratic societies, saying, "If a democratic political system is in place, that contributes to the process of transforming society toward democracy."
He noted that the media in these societies bears responsibility for failure and incitement, without their understanding and awareness of the role of media in disseminating opinions and culture.
Habib addressed the most prominent laws that guarantee the journalist’s ability to work freely and democratically, especially those related to journalists’ sources of information, as these are among the most important tools that reinforce the concept of democratic culture, because without access to sources, the field will be open to rumors.
At the conclusion of the lecture, he discussed with the participants some of the laws that hinder the work of the press in Palestine, such as the Cybercrime Law and the danger posed by some of its provisions to media work by seeking to restrict it whenever it conflicts with the authority and the government.
It is worth noting that the project "Enhancing Democratic and Civic Values Among Youth," which lasts for six months, includes ten educational lectures and radio episodes on issues of democracy and political development in Palestinian society, in addition to three training courses on topics related to combating corruption and strengthening the tools of social accountability and transparency in Palestinian society.
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