MIFTAH
Thursday, 28 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 

The viewpoints of media students at Hebron and Najah Universities and at Al Aroub Technical College towards the coverage of the three Palestinian newspapers – Al Quds, Al Ayyam and Al Hayat Al Jadidaa – of Mohammed Assaf’s Arab Idol win were split between supportive, reserved and completely opposed.

For those who showed some reservations, they said that coverage of Assaf’s win was so extensive, it came at the expense of more pressing national issues such as the prisoners. At the time, Samer Issawi was in the midst of a hunger strike and they believed he was not afforded ample attention from the media. Their question to the media was why all this attention given to Assaf could not have been channeled into more important issues, such as Jerusalem, settlements, Al Aqsa and prisoners.

Those who were against the extensive media coverage were even harsher in their criticism. They said the media should not have given so much time to cover a song contest, which diverted attention away from Israel’s measures on the ground. This group of students also seemed to have a fundamental problem with the whole idea of art and singing, completely rejecting it, refusing to consider it another tool of resistance.

Those who were happy with the media coverage, however, were very supportive of what the three newspapers had to offer about Assaf’s win. They also said they were confident that the local media could play an influential role in other issues if they had the various political forces behind them in addition to support from financial moguls as well. They cited how major businessmen endorsed Assaf and major corporations competed to sponsor him in addition to support from the highest political echelons.

This group showed its clear support for the artistic significance represented in Assaf, saying this was not separate from national issues since they consider art to be another tool of the struggle. Assaf’s victory was able to catapult him into the world, with all of the Palestinian people both inside Palestine and abroad, rallying behind him. Some students said the story of Assaf’s journey from the Khan Younis refugee camp, across the Egyptian borders and all the way to Beirut reflected the story of suffering of all Palestinians, something which was clear from the media coverage. Even the international media told the ‘rags-to-riches’ story of the Palestinian refugee who fulfilled his dream in spite of the challenges in this way.

These positions were reflected in the Media Monitoring report and its results. The most significant of these was how the three Palestinian newspapers handled the phenomenon of Mohmmed Assaf as a major national event worthy of front page headlines. The fact that this rarely happens – headlines are almost always political – is a positive and important development in the editorial policies because it showed how the newspapers also portray human issues pertaining to Palestinian creativity at the resistance, art and cultural levels.

The newspapers also allocated important spots for viewpoints on the young new Palestinian star. While this was criticized by a certain sector of Palestinians for religious and ideological reasons, these criticisms were shot down by most Palestinian and Arab columnists and editorial writers.

As to why the Media Monitoring Unit chose this topic to monitor, Unit Coordinator Ruham Nimri had this to say: “The reason why we chose this topic is because of the attention Mohammed Assaf’s victory received whether at the official, popular or media levels. Everyone inside the homeland and abroad worked to make this young man’s dream come true. During the completion, Assaf conveyed the message of his people to the world and showed them that the Palestinians are creative in all fields, not just in their national resistance. “

The report covered the three newspapers’ coverage of Assaf’s victory over the two days of June 22nd and 23d, 2013 – that is, one day before and one day after the final results. Most of the coverage focused on portraying the new Palestinian talent, Mohammed Assaf and the national pride felt across the board for this young Palestinian singing sensation.

 
 
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