Press House Conduct a Meeting on the Reality of Arts Journalism in Palestine

On Wednesday evening, Press House- Palestine conducted a discussion meeting entitled "The reality of arts journalism in Palestine" as part of "enhancing freedom of expression, the quality and independency of Palestinian media" project.

The meeting was attended by the Palestinian director Saad Kraiem, a group of writers and artists. In addition to, a number of journalists and some editors of newspapers and websites in Gaza Strip.

The director of the Press House, Belal Jadallah, reaffirmed that the political reality is dominating everything under the current conditions.

Jadallah spoke about the great importance of the "Red Carpet" film, especially by the foreign media because it was associated with a political event, adding that its story was innovative and attracted a lot of international media.

He confirmed on the necessity of coordination between journalists and artists and that the institution is ready to host any meeting or seminar regarding this subject, in order to make recommendations that benefit the Palestinian art, adding that such discussion meetings need to brainstorm the importance of the subject.

For his part, Saad Kraiem welcomed the guests and thanked them for accepting the invitation, stressing that the Press House is always a real incubator in gathering artists and journalists. He considered that there is a historical relationship between these two fields.

Kraiem stated that art, in Gaza Strip in particular and in Palestine in general, is always lacking journalists. He pointed to the great attention paid by the journalist, the newspaper's representative and the website to the leader or political official, who is invited to open exhibitions, plays or films while ignoring the event itself or just mentioning it in the tail of the news.

Kraiem gave a number of journalists the chance to talk about their experiences and opinions on the art journalism in Gaza Strip.

For his part, writer Yusri Al-Ghoul wondered about the unity of all artists in Gaza Strip and Palestine when they belong to different parties that have different ideology and thought, pointing out that there is no incubator for artists and writers.

Al-Ghoul talked about the importance of the quality of the artwork, such as the "Red Carpet", which attracted a lot of media because of its innovative plot.

In her turn, Warda Al-Zubda praised the role played by the Press House in sponsoring meetings and discussions that deal with art and culture. She expressed her hope that the Foundation continues in this field.

Al-Zubda called for resistance-related artworks that are also concerned with the social aspects and the problems that the society suffers from in Gaza Strip. She stressed the poor quality of the artwork in Gaza wondering about the role of the artists union.

Then the stage was opened to the artists who unanimously agreed on the default of press and various media to cover their works of art along the lines of covering political events.

The meeting was concluded with a word by Saad Kraiem about the importance of having a specialized journalist in the field of art in order to have more interest in the development of art. He also stressed the necessity to communicate between artists and journalists through various meetings and courses in order to build the capabilities of journalists in the specialized press.

He confirmed that this meeting could be relied on; adding that press and media must differentiate between "artist and non-artist".