|
Showing 1 - 5 from 5 entries
> Dreams and Reality
> Writing and sharing a story about social violence
> Writing and sharing a story about "dreams and r...
> Guidelines for international letter writing
> How to change images in the West
|
submitted by Toine van Teeffelen 09.05.2006
The following is a chapter of a report of the Palestinian youth media organization PYALRA. It contains the conclusions of a conference in 2004 which discussed youth journalism and the Palestinian media. It is interesting because it contains practical advices for young journalists how to write convincingly when addressing an international audience.
WHAT PALESTINIANS CAN DO TO CHANGE IMAGES IN THE WEST
Kind of messages: style, subjects, types of discourse
Besides the educational challenge, Palestinian journalists are required to respond to the pressures of an international audience which is either influenced by negative stereotypes of Palestine, or which is eager to receive alternative information from the Palestinian media. It will be essential for Palestinian journalists to find and develop a rhetoric that is credible and effective towards an international audience. It is often said: "Your cause is just but you cannot communicate." Why did the Israelis succeed in "marketing terrorism"? Why are the Arab media not successful in marketing their just cause? Is there really a readiness in the West to believe the Arab message? We have to work on the presumption that there is a basic readiness, at least among particular constituencies, if not among the general public. So working on the message is required. The delivery system is important; how you say the message; the style and tone. But also the contents are important, such as the type of argumentation and the narratives employed.
Following are some of the practical suggestions mentioned during the conference:
Be convincing in your argumentation
- Be honest
- Always be factually correct, if possible precise, don't have unreliable figures (show the different figures provided by different sources)
- Use reliable sources and quotes to bolster your points, such as those from Amnesty International, an organization consensually accepted
- Emphasize issues of racism because racism is consensually not accepted.
Be focused
- Focus on the "ten core issues" which Palestinians need to bring out
- Be simple, short and clear in your message
- Don't forget the basic fact that Palestinians live under occupation, a fact not known or not taken for granted by the international audience
Be passionate but not overly emotional
- Keep yourself "calm in the eye of the storm."
- Be calm, strong, professional in your presentation; don't speak too quick and too emotional.
- Don't be heavily rhetorical, don't use worn-out slogans
- Always be polite, how difficult that may be.
Sometimes take it easy, relativize
- Show self-criticism, admit a failure
- Show a sense of humour, even make a joke about suffering.
Make good human stories
- When speaking about Palestinian casualties, tell not just about the figures and the facts at hand, but also about details which tell a narrative about the person in question, such as the color of the school bag, the family situation.
- Focus not only upon politics, but also upon daily life narratives (for instance, diaries, photo series of school life and at home) and upon social causes. This helps to present a broader spectrum of concerns. In this way, one can easier link up with the audiences' own daily life concerns. An experience in Holland showed that Palestinians had a more convincing human image when no politics or religion were involved.
- Use fantasy, creativity and imagination. Write (semi-)fiction. Compare the ways how Israeli or Zionist fiction (Uris' "Exodus") has shaped people's imagination about Israel as a successful story of survival and nation building.
Take care of your audience's interests
- Know and understand your audiences and take care of their opinions and background knowledge because they may not understand you or may be too distant from your opinions. After all, not all westerners think that Arab or Palestinian people are terrorists or fundamentalists.
- It may be important to emphasize the Christian presence in Palestine because it is so little known and because it may create bridges towards Christians in the West
- Maintain a dialogical attitude. Don't use a self-righteous tone "as if you do not understand that the other does not understand that I am the victim."
Take care of your language
- Fluency in foreign languages is needed. The image of fluent English Arab speakers can also break through stereotypes (cf. a veiled woman speaking fluent English).
- But: "It is not enough to speak English [with regard to an American audience], you have to speak American" (Ray Hananieh).
Employ different genres of communication
- In addressing international audiences, obviously different genres should be employed, that is, both audio-visual and written media. Now increasingly the Internet is a channel of communication. There a "war of attrition" is going on between Palestinian and Israeli writers and websites; cf. how the Haaretz newspaper on the Internet has become a major source of information and opinionating for Western journalists, as well as the success of the Electronic Intifada website.
Source: REPORT PYALARA "MEDIA FOR THE FUTURE" CONFERENCE Ramallah, 8-10 October 2004
|
