Today, media in Palestine has emerged as one of the most powerful and peaceful tools of resistance against the occupation. The director of Dream Radio in Hebron was the first to describe it to me as a weapon—a modern Palestinian means to confront the occupation’s guns and checkpoints. This sentiment was echoed by many of the people I spoke with during my fieldwork. In order to challenge the narrative that depicts Palestinians as violent, media serves as a non-violent way to document life under occupation. A sound engineer at Masader Radio emphasized, “Media is one of our tools [of resistance], and we must use it.” Through media in Palestine, new platforms are being created to counter the dominant Israeli narratives.
Creating New Palestinian Media Narrative
Palestinians have sought to ‘level the playing field’ by creating their own media narratives of Palestinian life living under occupation through radio broadcasting, satellite television, and social media. As a result, the Palestinian news media industry has become much more focused in their reporting. Additionally, individual Palestinians are furthering a collective New Media-oriented national narrative by creating documentaries, participating on social media pages, and engaging in semi-professional photography.
Palestinian media aims to inform, but the burgeoning practice of creating documentaries and other consumable, entertaining media is fueling the creation of both a Palestinian news industry and an entertainment industry. No longer is news only about “power, money and politics; it [is] also about ‘entertainment’” and creativity—engaging in a dialogue with an audience and evoking emotions and actions from viewers. Palestinians are creating spaces of sovereign power in their media and also aiming to create moments of leisure in entertainment media. Through this mediated communication—through media—national identities are formulated.
The Rise of Palestinian News and Entertainment Media
Palestinians face several barriers in their reporting. A reporter for the Fourth Authority outlined three main obstacles to Palestinian media: 1.) Palestinian journalists are not considered legitimate professionals by the state of Israel, 2.) internal divisions in the government and 3.) a lack of finances. Palestinian journalists are not considered legitimate by the Israeli occupation; therefore, Palestinian journalists are offered no protection in the field. In fact, Palestinian journalists are specifically targeted by IDF soldiers.
Challenges Faced by Palestinian Journalists
Radio hosts at Dream Radio, Masader Radio, and other stations noted that there has been a shift in how individuals get their news. The social media revolution is making print-news media a less popular way of obtaining information. Social media technology “increases the speed and dissemination of information, allowing new audiences to follow the conflict, and express their support or dissatisfaction for different actors.” Despite the acknowledged competition between print media and social media, radio hosts are resigned to utilize social media outlets to promote news sources. Palestinians are competing with social media, but they also have to use it. So many people use social media, and it is the easiest and fastest way to publish news. One radio host told me,
“We have a Facebook page and a YouTube channel; we also have an Instagram, but it is not updated regularly. Our Facebook page is always blocked, reported, and deleted. There is so much censorship, especially on Facebook and YouTube. We used to have thousands of followers on our websites, but now we only have a few hundred, if that.”
Censorship and Restrictions on Palestinian Content
Whereas Israeli government and citizens have largely unrestricted access to social media platforms and are permitted to speak freely, Palestinian content is often censored by social media applications like Facebook and Twitter. Any criticism of Israeli policies is branded as ‘incitement’ by the government of Israel and considered to be a cybercrime, punishable by arrest. Additionally, certain companies like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook continue to permit the state of Israel to “monitor and censor Palestinian content.”
Indeed, the Israeli government has had an agreement with Facebook since 2016 “to set up teams to monitor and remove ‘inciteful content.” As much as 85% of Israel’s requests to remove Palestinian content are accepted by the tech companies; most often, posts are removed because they are considered to be “harmful [to the image of the Israeli state] or dangerous.” Palestinians allude to the fact that freedom of communication and expression of Palestinians is not permitted by Israel. Indeed, many radio station workers I spoke with told me that the promotion of Palestinian reality Palestine is something that could threaten Israel, which is one reason why Israel censors Palestinian media content.
Striving for Truth Amidst Obstacles
Despite many barriers, Palestinian media directors and reporters pride themselves on using journalism as a platform for truth. Both private and government-funded stations work diligently to provide only the most reliable local news.
