On Wednesday, February12/2014, the MDC at Birzeit University had organized a session in collaboration with the PJS  to discuss the results of a study entitled: "Factors that affect the employment and performance of female journalists in media institutions in Palestine, from a social perspective" accomplished by Ms. Nahed Abu Taima under the supervision of Dr. Walid Sharfa

Mrs.Nibal Thawabteh, the director of the MDC opened the session saying  "This study  has aimed at  identifying  the actual job performance  and most important factors that affect the employment of  female Journalists from the gender perspective, as well as personal and organizational variables that affect the performance levels of Journalists  working in media institutions in Palestine"

The coordinator of the Journalists Committee in the PJS  Kholod Assaf said that the syndicate  is seeking to expand the work of female journalists and help them find jobs and build their skills through training courses and has found  that the study is important for the Journalists syndicate to study and take the findings into consideration.

Dr. Walid Shurafa professor in media at Birzeit University and  the supervisor of the research was pleased for the  completion of  this work, pointing at  the weak participation of female journalists in media profession in comparison with numbers of female students who study media at the University. Dr. Shurafa also talked about the approach for the study where the researcher relied on the descriptive approach, in addition to the focus groups, and designed a questionnaire as a primary data collection tool, where 135 employed female journalists responded to the questionnaire

Ms. Abu Taima shared the most important results of the study, which appeared that the majority of female journalists haven't worked in a decision-making positions , their salaries are low and the presence of favoritism within media organizations in addition to the low participation of women journalists in the journalists syndicate as they are convinced that the syndicate cannot be their advocate .

The most significant recommendations for Abu Taima was working at  including a larger number of  female Journalists in media institutions, also the  adoption  of standards for hiring professionals based on transparency, and commitment to the minimum wage in the non-governmental sector, in addition to expanding the circle of interaction among the institution of civil society, media institutions, Universities and Journalists' syndicate.

more images

The MDC at Birzeit University on January 21/2014,  and in corporation with the Swedish Development Agency (Sida) ; has released  their new collaboration in the preparation of  Media National Strategy and capacity building entitled " Towards a Promising Future for a Palestinian Democratic Media Environment – National Strategy Planning and Capacity Building.
The ceremony took a place  at the Media Development Center and was attended by Birzeit University President Dr. Khalil Hindi and the Swedish Consul General Axel Wernhoff.

The projects manager at the center  Buthayna  Alsemeiri said that the project will last till the end of 2016 with Sida funding. She talked also about the partners in the preparation of this  strategy who are over 40 and all of them are waiting to see its results that will cover all the inputs and outputs of the Media Sector starting with journalism curricula  at the Palestinian universities, training courses, and also the setting of rules  and regulations to insure Media freedom based on modern standards along with developing ethics regulations and the development of syndicate work and  paying attention to media literacy.

During the event the MDC displayed  a brief  presentation about the center's plan for the next three years , and the most important objectives , including: the launch of the National Strategy ,the release of the first media research journal in Palestine in both English and Arabic , activating the gender unit at the center and conduct dozens of training courses in different areas of  media in both  West Bank and Gaza Strip and activate cooperation with local radio and television channels  for the utilization of the  high-tech equipped  studios at the center .
For his part, Dr.Khalil during the ceremony  announced the launch of this  renewed collaboration, he noted to the fact that accept for the existence of major key media institutions as the MDC; the Palestinian media could not have reached  this stage of development , and professionalism, this role  obviously would not have been realized without the support of the Swedish Foundation .
For his part , Wernhoff pointed that the Swedish Agency for Development (Sida) has supported  the Palestinians for years and  has cooperated with the Media Development Center since 1996 , pointing out that  any country  could not develop in the field of democracy or living without the  focus on Media , and here comes our role in supporting this aspect , through the  support of the Centre .
He expressed his country pride in this cooperation, stressing that it will continue in the future, especially since there are many achievements throughout those years of collaboration.

more images

The Media Development Center at Birzeit University on January 27/2014, concluded a training course on making movies which was attended by 19 working journalists in Visual Media from the different areas of West Bank and Jerusalem. The course was carried out by the trainer Toby Trotter.
The training course included a theoretical part about the different methods of editing and narrative drama. It also included a practical part that divided the trainers into groups to prepare and make films with its narrations upon their ideas and under the supervision of the trainer.
4 short films were showcased at the end of the course; all were evaluated and discussed.

more images

The Media Development Center at Birzeit University , on January 4, 2014 ,concluded a training course on the use of terms  in Media , which was attended by 18 journalists of workers in Media in various Palestinian organizations in West Bank .
The course which lasted three days , was conducted by , Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi , which stemmed out of  the urgent need of  journalists for skills and deep knowledge of the rules of media language and terminology , in order to recognize the seriousness of influence of common mistakes on the practice , and the risk of  outsider terminology , politically and legally , in light of the communication revolution that we live in and  that is reflected in the multiplicity of forms of media , especially media outlets accompanied by various styles of modern technology.
The aim of the training course is  pointing at the importance of  forming a concept that controls  the  terminology  chaos  in the Palestinian and Arab media, which sometimes carry the contents of an intellectual and specific language of deception and deliberate indications, as terms space between the professional and the opposite in many cases .
It was recommended by participants at the conclusion of this training ,  an advanced training course to complement this preliminary training , out  of the importance of the unification of  Palestinian terms away from  impurities and the need to direct them  to create independence while supporting  the Palestinian rights  politically and legally .
The training session was wrapped up  with the distribution of certificates on the participants.

more images