Table Of ContentA JUSTICE-BASED
APPROACH FOR NEW
MEDIA POLICY
In the Paths of
Righteousness
Amit M. Schejter
Noam Tirosh
A Justice-Based Approach for New Media Policy
Amit M. Schejter • N oam Tirosh
A Justice-Based
Approach for New
Media Policy
In the Paths of Righteousness
Amit M. Schejter Noam Tirosh
Department of Communication Department of Communication
Studies Studies
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Beer Sheva , Israel Beer Sheva, Israel
Institute for Information Policy
College of Communications
Penn State University
University Park , PA, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-41509-3 ISBN 978-3-319-41510-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-41510-9
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To Judy, Anat, Matan, Tamar, Iddo, Ye’ela, Ziv and Shira
A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
How often do you get an opportunity not only to s ay that you are
combining research with a social mission you really believe in, but
actually get to do it? This book is an amalgamation of work that took
place between 2012 and 2016. It brings together thoughts and ideas
we developed as we were designing and conducting research under the
auspices of the Learning in a Networked Society (LINKS) Israeli Center
of Research Excellence (I-CORE) group that we put together in the
Department of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University of
the Negev. The project is still ongoing, and we expect many works
inspired by the themes of this book to emerge from research projects
currently being conducted by members of the group working among
the marginalized communities of Israel. This book is but a halfway sta-
tion in this effort.
What motivated us was our observation that we were witnessing and
experiencing a missed opportunity to make contemporary media improve
the position in society of those most disadvantaged. This is true regarding
the majority of Western societies, so we hope that what we have to say has
an international appeal; however, the examples we use and the reality we
are most acquainted with and concerned by relate to Israel with its specifi c
peculiarities. Indeed, while Israel is a modern and developed economy,
in which the majority of inhabitants enjoy a high standard of living by
Western standards, are connected to the Internet, and use contemporary
media in the most sophisticated ways, we cannot help but notice those
who do not equally partake in this ecosystem and are waiting on the side-
lines for their voice to be heard. The research program we developed,
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
therefore, had a twofold goal: in addition to learning about the needs of
the disadvantaged and developing a theory of media and justice that could
serve as a basis for corrective public policies, it also aims to tell the story of
these communities in their words when describing their information and
communication needs.
We are fortunate to enjoy the support of a Career Integration Grant
awarded by the Marie Curie FP7 program of the European Union (Project
322207) and of the I-CORE Program of the Planning and Budgeting
Committee and the Israel Science Foundation (Grant 1716/12). They
have allowed us to work with a wonderful group of people, two of which
we were blessed to have contribute to this work as well: our colleague Dr.
Orit Ben Harush of the Queensland University of Technology oversaw
and executed the statistical analysis of the digital divide in Israel, and our
colleague Shula Mola, a PhD candidate in the program, conducted the
research and wrote the chapter about Ethiopian immigrants. We are both
grateful to them.
We were lucky to run into Felicity Plester, the Publisher and Global
Head of Film, Culture and Media Studies at Palgrave Macmillan, tell her
about our ideas, and receive her invaluable help and support in producing
this work. We are also grateful to the help from her able assistant Sophie
Auld, who shepherded us through the publication process.
As privileged members of the Jewish majority in Israel, we see our-
selves, the things we believe in, and the mission we took as deeply rooted
in our ancestral traditions. Emmanuel Levinas, one of the most infl uential
and important Jewish thinkers in modern times, highlighted the strong
connection between Judaism and justice. According to Levinas, the Jewish
essence is about being just or, in his words: “The Justice rendered to
the other, my neighbor, gives me an unsurpassable proximity to God”
(Levinas, 1990, p. 18). In this light, we are most grateful to and inspired
by the voiceless immigrants in the absorption centers, the dwellers of the
unrecognized and demolished villages of the Negev, and those who try to
make the voices and memories of the marginalized and silenced Palestinian
minority heard. It is the spirit of activism of these friends, as well as their
constant struggle for justice, that drives our intellectual endeavors, and we
are humbled to play a small part in that struggle.
Last but not least, we would like to note that our work would not have
been possible, and our pursuit of introducing a theory of justice to new
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
media studies would not have reached this point, had it not been for the
help, support, and understanding of Judy and Anat. It is to them that we
are indebted and most grateful, and it is to our families, therefore, that we
dedicate this book.
March 2016 Amit M. Schejter
Noam Tirosh
A A
BOUT THE UTHORS
Amit M. Schejter (PhD, Rutgers University) is professor and head of the
Department of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev and codirector of the Institute for Information Policy at Penn State
University. He is the author or editor of fi ve books and more than fi fty
journal articles, law reviews, and book chapters in fi ve languages and is
founding coeditor of the J ournal of Information Policy . Professor Schejter
teaches courses on regulation, law, and policy; communication theory;
media systems; and media activism. He has held senior executive positions
in the media and telecommunications industry in Israel, was a member of
and chaired a variety of public committees, and counseled media and tele-
communication entities in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Noam Tirosh ( PhD, Ben-Gurion University) is a lecturer in the
Department of Communication Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the
Negev. His research focuses on the relationship between memory, media,
and justice. His work has been published in journals such as M edia, Culture
& Society, The Communication Review , Telecommunication Policy , Critical
Studies in Media and Communications , The Information Society , and the
International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics and presented at a
score of research conferences and workshops worldwide. He is the recipi-
ent of the Best Paper award in the student competition at the 2015
Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet
Policy (TPRC) and in 2016-17 he is serving as a visiting scholar at the
Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies at Northwestern
xi
xii ABOUT THE AUTHORS
University. A public intellectual, Tirosh often publishes opinion pieces in a
variety of Israeli newspapers and Web sites and contributes to public dis-
cussions in Israel.
Shula Mola is a PhD candidate in the Department of Communication
Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. A scholar, a teacher and an
activist, she holds two graduate degrees from the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and is the chairperson of the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews.
