The Reality of Palestinian Journalists’ Access to Information about Health Crises

(An applied study on the Corona epidemic)

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the reality of Palestinian journalists’ access to information about health crises, and to find out the extent to which Palestinian legislation guarantees the right of Palestinian journalists to access information. To identify the most important restrictions imposed on journalists’ right to access health information, and to reveal the parties that most hinder Palestinian journalists’ access to information. On information related to health crises, the parties that most violate this right, this study falls within the framework of descriptive research using the media survey approach. Within the framework of this approach, the study relied on the method of surveying methods of practice, and the mutual relations approach, within its framework of correlational studies, and the study data was collected through a questionnaire. The email was distributed to 40 journalists from the governorates of the West Bank. The study concluded that 60% of the study sample support that Palestinian legislation guarantees the right of Palestinian journalists to access information, and 30.6% believe that political restrictions prevent Palestinian journalists’ right to access information. 19.3% say that among the most important reasons for the restrictions imposed on information related to the Corona epidemic are fear of the spread of rumors about the outbreak of diseases, and special pressure from the World Health Organization, while 31.1% of the study sample supports that government officials are among the parties that most hinder Palestinian journalists’ access to private information. With health crises, there are no statistically significant differences in the reality of Palestinian journalists’ access to information about health crises according to the variables of gender, age, years of experience, the media outlet in which the journalist works, the scope of work of the media outlet in which the journalist works, and ownership of the media outlet.