BGU Students Help Israel Battle Media Bias
BGU Students Help Israel Battle Media Bias
August 14, 2013
Student reporters from university campuses around the world came together recently on BGU’s Marcus Family Campus for a program focusing on the portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the media. Only one was Jewish.
The 22 students, from countries including Turkey, Greece, Kenya, South Africa, South Korea, Holland, Hungary, England, Australia, and the United States, participated in the five-day “SCOOP Israel” conference, organized by 25 BGU students who are part of the StandWithUs Fellowship program.
“It’s crucial for students to do what we can to improve Israel’s global image – an image that is portrayed in the press often in a distorted manner due to lack of facts and a real understanding of events,” says BGU student Shahar Liran, SCOOP Israel’s chief coordinator.
The student reporters explored newspaper coverage of conflicts in general, with a particular concentration on the Israeli-Palestinian situation – enabling them to return to their home countries with the tools and knowledge to report in a more balanced manner.
In addition, the group toured Israel and participated in workshops led by Israeli and Arab experts.
Many of the participants blogged about their experience, addressing their preconceived notions about Israel, their reactions to the people they met and experiences they had on the program.
For example, a student journalist from Turkey, Dilara Ucar, wrote on Scoop’s blog, “I personally had an anti-Israel opinion before coming. But, this conference sincerely changed my opinion to a neutral one.”
Another student, Jack Prescott from Oxford University, wrote about the group’s visit to the Israeli company Sodastream’s factory, in the West Bank, that employs both Israeli and Palestinian workers.
Read more student-journalist blog posts>>
Conference co-sponsors included BGU and BGU’s Student Union. View a student video about the project >>
Like SCOOP-Israel’s Facebook page >>
Read more about the program on The Jerusalem Post website >>
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