Annenberg Forum on Palestine and Communication Studies

This forum brings together scholars and journalists from the USC and Penn Annenberg schools to analyze the Israel–Palestine crisis with precision and compassion while collaboratively envisioning a new path forward.

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About the Forum

In the wake of Israel’s military assault on Palestinians in Gaza and East Jerusalem in May 2021, and amid escalations in Israeli settler violence, international popular opinion has noticeably shifted in favor of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. The implications of this shift are unclear, however—and especially in the U.S., where Israeli impunity remains consistent with official foreign policy.

This global crisis raises urgent questions about journalistic ethics and censorship, the role of new media in contemporary social movements, the politics of language and of art, and many topics relevant to scholars of communication. It also highlights both the promise and the limitations of the university as a site of constructive engagement and meaningful response. A collaboration between both Annenberg schools, this forum brings together scholars and journalists to analyze this crisis with precision and compassion while collaboratively envisioning a new path forward.

About the Panelists

Omar Al-Ghazzi, Assistant Professor of Media and Communication, London School of Economics. His work focuses on questions around the global power asymmetries in the reporting and representation of conflict. Dr. Al-Ghazzi is Editor of the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. He earned his PhD at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Nora Barrows-Friedman, longtime broadcaster and journalist who has focused on Palestine and Palestinian rights issues for nearly twenty years. She was the co-host and senior producer of Flashpoints on KPFA from 2003-2010 and has since been an associate editor and reporter for The Electronic Intifada. She is the author of In Our Power: US Students Organize for Justice in Palestine.

Rayya El Zein, cultural ethnographer and scholar of performance and media in the Middle East and diasporas. Her interdisciplinary work rethinks representations of Arab and Muslim youth and proposes different models of subjectivity and agency attuned to lived experiences in the contemporary Middle East. Dr. El Zein earned her PhD at the City University of New York and is a former postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication.

Sandy Tolan, Professor of Journalism, University of Southern California. He is the author of three books, including the international bestseller The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, a narrative history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has reported from 40 countries, focusing on the intersection of land, identity, the environment, and the global economy.

The forum will be moderated by Josh Kun, Professor and Chair in Cross-Cultural Communication, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California.

This event is sponsored by the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, with endorsement from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California.