Dr. Ihab Bseiso, the spokesman for the Palestinian Government, said that the Palestinian mass media in all its aspects and manifestations should give precedence to the unitarian discourse over the narrow, factious discourse, in order to create a conscious media that looks at things positively and responsibly to give priority to the public interest.

This came during a public lecture delivered by Dr. Bseiso at An Najah University, entitled: “Palestinian Media: Realities and Challenges,” which was attended by several officials from the University, and also by students of the Faculty of Media and other faculties.

Dr. Natsheh met Dr. Bseiso before the lecture. Dr. Natsheh welcomed and thanked Dr. Bseiso for his interest in visiting the University and meeting the students and the society in general. Dr. Natsheh talked about the University’s history and evolution, its academic programs, the stages of evolution and progress on both the academic and developmental aspects, and the stages of establishment of An An-Najah University Hospital.

The meeting was attended by the Deputy President for International and Strategic Affairs, Prof. Sami Jaber, Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Muhammad Hanoun, Vice-President for Administrative Affairs, and Dr. Maher Abu Zant, Vice President of Community Affairs.

Dr. Bseiso began by talking about the emergence of the Palestinian media and gave an example about the emergence of the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa). Then, he talked about what the Palestinian media should do in order to face the challenges of the Palestinian issue and media, and demonstrated that the biggest and most important challenge for the Palestinian State and the Palestinians is occupation; and that is what bolsters the Palestinian media’s steadfastness - the power of its narration spreads through the whole world. Dr. Bseiso also talked about the amount of attacks against Palestinian journalists and media, which aim to hinder the Palestinian narrative from reaching out to the world with its perspective and insight.

 Dr. Bseiso addressed the Israeli media practices against the Palestinians - its leadership, nation and media organizations- and pointed out that the Israeli media is a continuous network that tracks and incites the Palestinian media.

Dr. Bseiso detailed the internal situation and system of the Palestinian media internal work, and called for promoting and strengthening the Palestinian media through advancing its existence as the Fourth Estate, which contributes greatly to strengthening the bonds of Palestinian civil society with Palestinian state institutions. Furthermore, he demanded the creation of an appropriate legal environment for the right of information access.

During his lecture, Dr. Bseiso talked about the nature and system of work of the Palestinian media center, which he governs, discussing how the center works on drafting the media discourse, and the departments the center established in order to enable the role of media work at home (Palestine).

Afterwards, Dr. Bseiso took the time to answer audience questions.