conflict & communication online, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2017
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Mira Feuerstein & Lea Mandelzis
Israeli college students challenge media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

This study is based on a critical media literacy education (CMLE) program in a “peace education through media” (Pet-Med) project conducted simultaneously in three Israeli academic colleges amongst Arab and Jewish students. It sought to assess general short-term trends of changes in the students’ perceptions of the media coverage of the conflict and the role a critical approach towards the media can play in promoting tolerance, and recognizing mutual-victim roles. The pre-post quantitative questionnaires evinced a general trend towards a more moderate position than the students took in response to the conflict. In the wake of the program, more of them acknowledged the importance of knowing the “Other” and the media effect upon constructions of extreme reality and their own perceptions.

The authors:
Dr. Mira Feuerstein, served as the  Head of communications department in  Oranim Academic Educational College in Israel, and now she is the Chairman of the Committee for digital  media literacy education  in Israel. As a senior lecturer in Oranim College, she is responsible for teaching staff development and has conducted  a number of research studies about students' college critical media thinking, teaching-learning the new digital literacy, news literacy and the digital citizenship. In the last three years she was also involved in a unique European project in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ("Pet-Med") "Peace Journalism – Media and conflicts". Recently, she  contributed  an entry - Israel media literacy programs -  for "The Praeger Handbook of Media Literacy"  ("DIMLE Project"), and conducted a cross-national research (Israel, Norway, UK) about  "students' news media uses and perceptions in the age of social networks".
eMail: mirafo@netvision.net.il

Dr. Lea Mandelzis, is the  Head, of  Communications department in Kinneret Academic College in Israel. Her fields of research include media discourse in war and peace, peace journalism, media and national identity, critical media consumption. She has presented and published a number of articles and book chapters. Lea developed a teaching course on critical media consumption: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict together with Dr. M. Feurstein, and edited it's Instractor's Manual. Her work contributes to Keshev, the organization for media monitoring and the protection of democracy in Israel. She is a member of the international Peace Journalism Group at Toda Institute of Global Peace and Policy Research.
eMail: lmandelzis@gmail.com