Three documentary films  that has been produced during the training  sessions of the Media Development Center / University of Birzeit ; won three awards out of five in the festival witness on creativity , organized by  “Journalists without limits” institution in cooperation with Palestinian universities that  teaches media and AL-Falistiniah TV channel which broadcasted all films that were done by young directors and Media students .

The winning documentaries produced by the MDC courses are:

-“A Letter from Jerusalem”, directed by Mohammed Abu Sneineh ; the film tells the story of a family in Jerusalem forced to demolish their  house by the  father and sons so that they  do not have to pay the wages of the demolition to the Israeli municipality and to avoid  being arrested .

-“Duha Tales”, directed by Mohammed Sawwaf and Mohamed El Baz , the film captures details and views about the impact of the aggressive war  on  Gaza Strip in 2008, on the behavior of children.

-“The Key”, directed by Mohammed al-Haj Ahmed, a film of expressive symbolism that speaks about the right of return and the Palestinians commitment  to this right, generation after generation .

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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Birzeit University Media Development Center (MDC) held the National Congress for the presentation and discussion of the preliminary findings of the assessment of media development in Palestine using UNESCO”s media development indicators.

During the conference, a video conference was held between Ramallah and Gaza to discuss the preliminary findings of the UNESCO project ‘Assessment of media development in Palestine using UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators.

The UNESCO representative in the Palestinian territories Derek Elias valued cooperation with the MDC, noting that this study is the third of its kind in the Arab world, after Tunisia and Egypt.

In his speech, Mr. Elias said: "The interest in media development is a key element for the empowerment of democracy in the Palestinian territories, especially when focusing on freedom of opinion and expression."

The Vice President for Community Outreach Samia Halileh said that "We are confident that the private and official media have the willingness and desire to benefit and make optimal use of the conference findings."

The MDC director Ms. Nibal Thawabteh stated that the conference aims to present and discuss the findings of the researchers in their study on the Palestinian media with the attendees. She added:"This study will form a roadmap for Palestinian media, and will help in planning a Palestinian media strategy.”

The study called for capacity building, professional support for institutions, in order to promote freedom of expression, pluralism and diversity, through the modernization of the curricula and specialized training.

At the conclusion of the conference, the audience recommended the need to support media research and focus on new or alternative media, in addition to working on the development of media curricula in higher education institutions.

The study on the media development indicators will be published and distributed in October, during a national conference that will be held for this purpose.

The participants included media experts and journalists, as well as representatives of the government, civil society, Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and locally based international development agencies.

Currently, the Birzeit University Media Development Center signed an finance agreement with the Heinrich Boll Foundation about the project "Women Speaking" which will be implemented during the year 2013 in order to empower Palestinian women, especially journalists and women’s rights activists, by increasing their skills qualification in a highly professional manner concerning:

-mass communication;

-direct speech;

-conferencing;

-issuing press releases;

-deal with emergency situations;

-their knowledge in presenting themselves in the media;

-analysing and criticising articles.

Also, as a part of the strategic partnership agreement and existing cooperation between the Media Development Center and the Heinrich Boll Foundation, the radio program “Cup of Tea” will be produced. This radio program will be broadcasted by 13 local partner radio stations and encompasses 24 episodes bringing up gender issues by giving information and using social comedy.

Birzeit University, 17th of Dec: Media Development Center (MDC) at Birzeit University held a seminar on “Media Coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict”, in the presence of local and foreign journalists, as well as experts and media professors.
At the beginning of the seminar, the monitoring and evaluation coordinator at the Media Development Center at MDC, Imad Al-Asfar, presented the most prominent aspects of bias in foreign media coverage and weaknesses in local media coverage.
A TV report prepared by the project Coordinator of "Media Development Indicators" at MDC, Abeer Ismail, focused on the differences in the media coverage of both local and foreign media.
The first session was chaired by the director of MDC, Nibal Thawabteh. Lecturer on the new media, Mariam Aouragh, provided a review of the book "Bad News from Israel" of Greg Philo and Mike Berry, and concluded that journalists are opinion-makers, not just carriers of the event or for information only. Form his side, the bureau chief of Washington Post newspaper, Joel Greenberg said that foreign journalists are not biased, they are just trying to cover the event from both sides.
“But they fail sometimes which, expose them to criticism” Greenberg added, “there’s sometimes media coverage which doesn’t show the conflict in its true form”.
On the other hand, the corresponded of Al-Arabiya Channel, Ziad Halabi, said that there is a lack of professionalism despite the significant improvement of the Arab media, especially in the field ​​coverage of the Gaza war.
Halabi called on the journalists to adopt standards and terms of international law in their coverage of the conflict.

The second session, which was chaired by the media professor at Birzeit Univerisy, Ehab Bessaiso, discussed the variation in terminology, for example the wall or security fence or separation barrier.
From his side, the Palestinian writer and analyst, Nazir Mojali, made a review of the term of “Jewish State, which had been stated by the UN resolution No. 181 on which Palestinians based the Declaration of Independence.
Mojali called for more commitment to professionalism and ensured that professionalism does not contradict nationalism.
On the other side, the Bureau Chief of Reuters, Crispian Balmer, stressed the need for accuracy in the selection of terminology which is subjected to check and review by editors.
The Palestinian journalist, Khalid Amayerh said that the foreign media always biases for the Israeli story and doesn’t deal with the required professionalism. Amayreh stressed at the same that its time to monitor and review the foreign media.
The last session which was based on recommendations, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr.Mustafa Al- Barghouthi, said that the Palestinian politicians should pay attention to the international news agencies, and to focus on the terms as occupation and apartheid.
Dr.Barghouthi added: “It is difficult for foreign journalist to be objective as long as they live in the center of the Israeli society.”  He called to subdue politicians and spokespeople to intensive training on how to deal with the media.
Finally, the Palestinian Lawyer, Dr. Diana Butto, spoke at the end of the seminar; politicians and journalists should understand terms and its explanations in a better way before they start using it. She continued; “the audience needs to understand the meaning of terms which are used in every news story in the media”

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