The democratic ideals among the Palestinian journalists

Title: The democratic ideals among the Palestinian journalists Number of pages: 72+4 (appendix) Author: Mats Tiborn Tutor: Jenny Wiik Course: Master essay, Media and Communication Period: Spring 2011 University: Dept. of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Gothenburg Purpose/ Aim: This essay studies the democracy-supportive journalistic ideals among the Palestinian journalists and compare them with earlier studies on journalistic ideals. The essay also studies what shapes these ideals and what holds them back in the journalist’s work. Material/ Method: The essay is based upon semi-structured deep-interviews with twelve Palestinian journalists that work for different kinds of media, with different background and in different ages. The interviews are based on theories about journalistic ideals and the relationship between democracy and journalism. Main results: The journalists have great knowledge about the democratic functions within journalism. They are driven by idealism and they work for change in the society. The Palestinian cause weighs the most when the ideal of objectivity is put to the test. A well spread self-censorship is inhibiting the democracy-supportive journalistic ideals from fully work. Though the journalists show an impressive strength to keep up the work in a very dangerous situation.