Undergraduates Hold Simulated Press Conference on Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Lecturer Etyan Gilboa facilitated the event to give students an inside look at the work of diplomats and journalists.
Lecturer Etyan Gilboa begins the simulation.
President Donald Trump's plan to end the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, called the "deal of the century," is scheduled to be released in June. On Wednesday, a group of undergraduate Communication majors held a mock press conference on this plan.
Facilitated by Lecturer Eytan Gilboa, the mock press conference concluded his undergraduate course, COMM 390: Media and Diplomacy in the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Teams of students represented five states and organizations: the US, the EU, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, as well as four global media networks: Fox News, BBC, Al-Jazeera International, and i24 news.
The students representing states prepared press releases and statements to the press and answered questions asked by the teams representing the various media organizations. These media teams also wrote stories based on the political orientations of the outlets they represented and the positions presented at the conference.
Gilboa, who is Director of the Center of International Communication at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and Visiting Israel Institute Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, said that the mock press conference was highly successful as it allowed his students to "experience" both the complicated issues involved and the work diplomats and journalists pursue in international conflicts.
