Arab Palestinians in Israel are an indigenous minority that make up 18% of the total population. Research and monitoring of the Hebrew media indicate that Arab citizens are represented in only 1% of all Hebrew-language journalistic reports, 80 to 90% of which promote a negative image. Arab Palestinians account for a mere 0.03 - 1% of the total staff employed in all Israeli media institutions. They are totally excluded from participation in media policy making bodies, and are underrepresented on the boards of media regulation bodies.

There is no clear distinction that can be made between the Israeli public and private media sectors in this regard. This situation is not due solely to government censorship, but rather to the strength of a hegemonic ideology that seeks to reinforce the Jewish character of Israeli society, promote Jewish culture, and foster closer relations with the Jewish Diaspora, while excluding the voice, and often even the existence, of the Arab citizens of Israel. The image and concept of “civil society” is contorted in Israel to portray the image of a “Jewish civil society.”

When Arabs do appear in media reports it is most often as a “security threat,” or a “demographic threat.” These terms totally ignore the Arabs own political and cultural visions and discourses, reinterpreting them as “enemies of the state,” from the security-heavy perspective of the Israeli establishment. In the rare instances that media discourse around discrimination or rights for the Arab citizens of Israel does occur, it is confined to discussions on the raising of budgets here or there, but not towards the meaningful integration of Arabs in the civil and political spheres as equal citizens, or as a legitimate national collective that holds democratic rights and the power to shape the destiny of society.

In a context where Arab citizens and Jewish citizens lead largely separate existences, the media plays a crucial role as the most important and influential tool in the shaping of Israeli public opinion. It is often the only source of information for the Jewish public about their fellow Arab citizens. Even when living in “mixed towns,” Arab and Jewish quarters tend to be spatially segregated, and differences in resource allocation are strikingly apparent. Day-to-day interactions and relationships based on an equal footing are rare, particularly since places where collaborative, non-exploitative work relationships might be manifest, suffer from a lack of Arab representation; be this at the university, in the civil service sector, or in decision-making positions in governmental or other public institutions.

The Hebrew media in Israel continually fails to grasp the opportunity of fulfilling its fundamental responsibility of disseminating balanced and accurate information, and promoting democratic values, and a pluralistic civil society. The work of Ilams Media Rights Program focuses on rectifying these imbalances through advocacy, outreach, and lobbying of state and private media institutions and practitioners.

Local Arab Media

As regards local Arab media, the Israeli political and economic system that de-legitimizes and discriminates against the Arab citizens of Israel , re-inscribes itself onto the local Arabic media scene. The following factors illustrate the challenges faced, in detail.

Weak Economic Base and Economic Pressures : One-half of Arab households in Israel live below the poverty line, with the average median income amongst the poor registering as much as 33.3% below the poverty line. Child poverty rates in Israel are the highest amongst “developed” countries, and 60% of Arab children in Israel live below the poverty line. There are no large companies that are Arab-owned that could invest in the Arabic media. There are only two Arabic-language daily newspapers, both burdened economically (one of them founded as recently as August 2004), alongside ten regional and national weekly newspapers, and one Internet-based news website.

Private Israeli companies tend to allocate a mere 1 – 1.5% of total advertising budgets towards the targeting of the Arab society. In contrast with the Hebrew media, the local Arabic media is therefore highly economically dependent on Lapam, Israeli government advertising disbursements. This dependency leads to restrictions on editorial policy, undermines media autonomy, negatively affects freedom of expression, and a genuine representation of the political and social aspirations of the Arab society.

Legal and Policy Restrictions : In contrast to the print media, all audiovisual media requires legal permissions in the form of an operating license. Only one commercial radio frequency was recently opened up for bidding by the Israeli authorities for programming geared towards the Arab society. Radio Shams managed to obtain the broadcasting license for the frequency in July 2003. It is the only Arab-owned radio station in Israel and broadcasts within a regional, rather than national, range.

In contrast, there are five Jewish-owned radio stations broadcasting nationally, and tens of such radio stations broadcasting regionally. Of these, only one, public radio station D, the Voice of Israel in Arabic ( Kol Yisrael / Sawt Israel ), broadcasts programming in the Arabic language, with its stated aim being the promotion of Israel s image amongst Arab populations, regionally and domestically, a goal that often conflicts with serving the needs of the local Arab citizenry.
As regards television broadcasting stations, there are no Arab-owned or Arabic-language television stations operating in Israel .

Censorship, Political Pressure and Discrimination : Arab journalists and Arabic media are the targets of various restrictions on their freedom of speech. Ilam has uncovered and documented dozens of cases in which the Arab press and Arab journalists are subjected to rights violations. These include: Indictments, accusations, newspaper closures, protracted interrogations, detentions and delays, restrictions on freedom of movement, humiliating and unnecessary searches, physical aggression, annulment and non-renewal of permits, censorship, and incitement extending to the Knesset podium.
An illustrative example were the legal proceedings against the editor and a journalist at Sawt El-Haq wa El-Hurriyya who face indictments for “incitement to violence or terror,” under amendment 144D2 to section 5737-1977 of the penal code. The amendment became law just days before it was used to lay the indictments, and pertains specifically to the interpretation of a Koranic verse made in one article, and published on 7 June 2002. The column in question was submitted to, and approved by Israeli censors, prior to its publication.

Lack of Suitable Educational Opportunities and Practical Trainings : The majority of Arab journalists do not complete a University career, and only a very low percentage of Arab students choose to pursue a degree in media and journalism. There are no media training institutions offering instruction in Arabic, and almost no learning material in this language. Training programs and reference materials offered by Israeli universities and other academic institutions are directed towards the development of the Hebrew media landscape, designed for the Jewish population, and consider their specific culture, identity, and needs, while neglecting the Arabic media landscape, and the Arab society and its needs. This means that Arab media students have extremely limited opportunities for acquiring practical experience and skills in Arabic written or audiovisual journalism.

Low Levels of Professionalism : Partially due to economic conditions, Arab media tends to be characterized by: 1) small staffs lacking specialists, where journalists often find themselves editing political material one hour, and writing material for the entertainment section in the next, with little time to devote to investigative journalism; and 2) little interest on the part of media managers in developing the capacities of their staff, with the overriding tendency being that the seeking out and hiring of “cheap” journalists over professional journalists.

Lack of Organization, Representation and Awareness : There is no professional union that truly represents and defends the rights of Arab journalists. Consequently, Arab journalists lack concrete knowledge and awareness about their communication and occupational rights. Journalists and even editors very often refrain from seeking legal advice and help when they face economic or political pressures, closures, or are prevented from doing their work. Additionally, because work opportunities for Arab journalists are extremely scarce, journalists regularly accept working conditions and wages that are less than desirable, often undercutting one another in the competitive bid for work.

Despite these obstacles and shortcomings, Arab media institutions, particularly the newspapers, remain an important means of information for Arabs in Israel because they represent one of the only informational vehicles that addresses and deals directly with the unique reality of the Arab society in Israel . Arab Satellite Channels, Hebrew newspapers and TV / radio channels rarely cover issues related to Arabs in Israel , as they do not consider them an important target group or audience. Local Arabic media offers analysis of local political issues, and is widely engaged in formulating Arab public opinion inside Israel , and in setting public and political agendas for this indigenous minority. For these reasons, it is very important to empower and assist local Arab journalists and local media institutions with legal advice, capacity building programs, training courses, workshops on rights-based journalism, and other like initiatives.