The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society Utilization of New Media in Managing Media Relations in Advocacy رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Modern day social media platforms have reshaped the world of journalism and their ubiquitous influence is deemed universal. Social media platforms have offered advocacy groups worldwide access to promoting their activism with a click of a button. By employing critical discourse analysis, this study examines the use of these new media tools utilized by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society in advocating for their rights and communicating their goals with the local press and the public as a whole. It aims to identify the extent in which the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society is employing these tools and platforms, and in what ways journalists interact with and utilize them for the purpose of public communication. The study employs the uses and gratifications theory and the concept of advocacy. The descriptive analytical method was employed by collecting data through interviews and performing content analysis, where 19 interviews were conducted with journalists and two interviews with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, in addition to analyzing seventeen Palestinian Prisoners’ Society publications disseminated via WhatsApp and Telegram. The study concluded that the NGOs’ view began shifting towards a more positive attitude regarding employing new media tools; as they serve as a key component in achieving the organization’s goals and the reach of the advocacy campaigns it carries out. This research reveals that the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society is a pioneering model in employing the media within its administrative structures and strategic plans, which empowers it when dealing with the media in a systematic manner, away from seasonality and reactions. V It was also found that the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society uses modern media platforms as part of its strategy to motivate the public, through journalists, to support prisoners’ issues, and to mobilize advocacy and carry out pressure at international levels. It recommends providing the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society media team with allocated budgets and specialized training, aimed at teaching them how to produce new media content that can effectively reach the public directly through the creation of video, audio, infographics, and digital stories, rather than relying on media institutions and outsourced services