REPORTBACK
FROM PALESTINE By Benaz Batrawi,
Palestinian IAWRT member
To: IAWRT Board
Date: Feb 3rd, 2005
After almost three months of coordination I
implemented the first event on behalf of IAWRT in
the Ramallah/West Bank area of the Palestinian National Territories.
Twenty two journalists were invited from cities in West
Bank and East Jerusalem but mostly work in Ramallah. Almost half of
them participated in the meeting.
The meeting was held from 11 am to 1
pm on Sunday January 30, 2005, in a well
equipped hall in the offices of the Family Welfare
Society whose revenue goes to supporting women with
very low income.
It was divided into two sections, first
explaining IAWRT's goals, activities,
future plans shown through a presentation on IAWRT's website, followed
by a discussion about how to be a member
through filling the application forms, and
reading some of IAWRT's documents.
Some
positive feed back were given from the
participants about IAWRT's mission and
activities all over the world, and some
other concerns were raised about the
language barrier in communication with other
foreign members and how can they apply for
internships that posted on the web.
The second part was brainstorming obstacles that female journalists face
in their daily work and the oppertunities men get more than women in the media
field. The other area of discussion was
about the areas of development that they
need either in practical training courses or
in academic study in order to enhance and
develop their career.
The meeting ended up by encouraging every
journalist to check the website and then
make the final decision about applying for
the membership. Any one wants to apply will
inform me as IAWRT's contact person so I can
keep in contact with her in order to build
the Palestine chapter.
Following are briefly some of the topics
that were raised:
- Obstacles that face female journalists
- Lack of trust toward the females'
professionalism
- Being far from the decision making
positions
- Being veiled (excluded from
certain areas such as TV)
- Being unveiled (encourages sexual
harassment)
- Lack of access to the training outside the
country
- Lack of family support towards this kind
of profession
- Being a wife and a mother (plays a
reproductive role)
that limits developing
other roles like the productive one.
- Areas of career development Participants
suggested
different training courses and
internships in:
Media management
Feature stories
Investigative reporting
Professional media terms translation
Presentation and editing skills
Creative writing that depends on human
interest stories.
Palestinian media
members discuss
challenges unique to Palestine.
Benaz Batrawi, Palestinian IAWRT member
presents IAWRT's objectives and goals
