Invisible Citizens? The Exclusion of Palestinian Arab Israelis from Israel's Mainstream Media
More than one in five Israeli citizens is a member of the Palestinian Arab minority. But you certainly wouldn’t know that if you turned on a news or current affairs program on Israel’s mainstream media. Israel’s Palestinian Arab citizens, and Palestinian Arab society generally, have historically been underrepresented on mainstream TV and radio in Israel – as journalists, as commentators, as studio guests, and as topics for news coverage.
Over the past year, however, with the United Arab List (“Ra’am”) becoming a central player in Israeli coalition politics, things seem to be changing for the better, with a growing presence of Arab journalists on the airwaves, including in primetime. Is this the start of a long-term trend, signaling a growing willingness to break down the walls between Jewish and Arab society? Or will this greater integration in the media be a passing phase, the product of special, temporary political circumstances?
These topics were discussed on Wednesday, 18 August by Eman Kassem, a radio journalist, and Edan Ring of Sikkuy, who leads that NGO’s campaign to promote the representation of Arab citizens and Arab society in Israel’s media.
This webinar, part of our “Conversations with Israel & Palestine” series, was moderated by Dr. Anwar Mhajne of Stonehill College. A Q&A session followed the discussion.