Helping
Palestinian Children Become "Media-Smart"!
A
new media literacy toolkit is being launched in Palestinian schools in
September, to help children become “media smart”. The purpose is to make
children aware of how the media functions and operates, enable them to
critically analyze what they read, watch and hear, and encourage young people
to produce their own media.
The toolkit is the result of a joint project between the Birzeit
University Media Development Center MDC, in Ramallah, and FOJO, the Institute
for Further Education of Journalists, in Sweden. It is produced by MDC’s
award-winning Palestinian journalist Naela Khalil, and Fojo’s Carmilla Floyd
and Johanna Hallin.
Some of the activities were tested in a pilot workshop for
Palestinian schoolchildren in the Ramallah area – 21 children aged 9-14 and three
teachers spent a day at the BZU Media Center, discussing what makes media tick
and how it influences our lives. The children analyzed all kinds of media, from
newspapers to Internet to graffiti. After a lively discussion session the
workshop ended with the children producing their own "fanzine".
Participating
children’s comments were enthusiastic:
*I learned in the workshop how to differentiate between important news and unimportant news that does not touch our lives or our concerns, but unfortunately it fills the newspapers. I dream of an integrated Palestinian newspaper or magazine that meets the tastes and needs of children and adolescents and the family in general. Aya Jayousi – sixth grate, 12 years old.
*Now I am able to categorize news and media items which are political, social and topics that concern children and women. Tala Hamad – seventh grade, 13 year old
*I am very happy because this is the first time that I take part in preparing a page in a magazine. To be a decision maker on what will be published in a magazine if very hard and fun at the same time. This was the first time that someone asks me my opinion about programs on Palestine TV. The only negative thing is that after discussion, it was hard to have a TV channel just for adolescents in the Arab world. I don’t know why. Sujood Abdelkareem – ninth grade, 15 years old
*After the workshop I decided that I want to become a journalist. It was fun to get to know the different types of media and what it presents to people of news, fun and information. I will keep the newspaper and magazine clippings for a very long time. Mays Abu El-Humus – 15 years old
*The workshop was beautiful and fun. I gained a lot from it and learned not to be intolerant of the opinion of others, because there are always opinions and points of view different than mine. Hidaya– seventh grade, 13 year old
*This was the first time that I learn about media closely. Now I can criticize newspapers based on the news and the pictures, and what topics should get focus. I did not know that before. Aya Fawaz ,14 years old
*I want another workshop about media. This workshop was very useful and fun but I want to know more about the work of the media. Manya Karmi – fifth grade, 11 years old
*I was surprised that the Palestinian newspapers does not dedicate pages or sections for children and women and does not usually use a good way of delivering the news to the public. Ghaida Basheer – seventh grade, 13 years old
*The most important thing in this workshop is that there was someone to hear my opinion about TV programs and what I like to watch and what I don’t like to watch. Bisan Nashashibi – 13 years old
*I learned in the workshop the importance of the picture. The negative things that I discovered is that newspapers don’t always publish the important news on its first page, but in the inside pages, although it is very important. And I don’t know why they do that. Dana Tahboub – ninth grade, 15 years old
*I used to think that all items that are published in newspapers are political news, but the workshop changed my mind. I learned that newspapers have a lot of miscellaneous topics. Yara Awadallah – 13 years old
*I got to know all the newspapers and supplements that are issued in Palestine which I did not know about before the workshop. Anas Malek – 13 years old
*The workshop taught me to differentiate between advertisements and news items. I did not know that people pay money to publish news of marriage or death in the newspaper. I am now able to differentiate between the news based on its importance to us as Palestinians and children and so on. Aseel Amor – 14 years old
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