Untitled

Day 5 Lecture
Day 5 Lecture
Walid Al-Saqaf
Walid Al-Saqaf
Harith Hasan
Harith Hasan
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Workshop on: Use Cases of AI in Journalism
Day 6 Lecture
Day 6 Lecture
Session 9
Session 9
Sebastien Palla
Sebastien Palla
Mostafa Bostani
Mostafa Bostani
Imed ben Libidi
Imed ben Libidi
Des Freedman
Des Freedman
Session 10
Session 10
Tamari Taralashvili
Tamari Taralashvili
Emir Hambo
Emir Hambo
Mohammed Al Nawawy
Mohammed Al Nawawy

The sixth ACRPS International Winter School, “Media in Wartime” drew to a close on 16 January 2025.

Day five of the Winter School shifted gears with a lecture and a closed workshop. The lecture, titled “Navigating the Future of Journalism in the Age of AI,” was delivered by Associate Professor of Journalism at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Walid Al-Saqaf. His lecture centred on the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the journalism. Al-Saqaf argued about AI’s disruption of traditional media practices while also offering new opportunities for innovation and adaptation. He concluded the lecture with an advocation for a balanced approach to the issue where human judgment remains central, complemented by AI tools, to ensure “accuracy, trustworthiness, and ethical” reporting in a time increasingly influenced by technology.

The closed workshop opened the space for attendees to experiment with various new tools that provide researchers with new means of analysing data and fact-checking. The workshop served as an exploratory session where participants try out and critique/reflect on the performance and usability of the tools. Participants were placed into groups of five, tasked with the mission to identify and differentiate AI generated photos from real photos.

The final day began with a lecture by Professor of Political Communication and Arab Media at SOAS, Dina Matar, followed by four student paper presentations. Matar’s lecture, titled “Covering Genocide: Challenges to War and Media Theories” explored the contradictions and limits of legacy media in presenting true facts and their ties to news elites. She argued that these contradictions have been exacerbated by the excessive mediation of Israel’s war on Gaza, the explosion in user-generated content, the weaponization of journalistic objectivity, the propaganda warfare by Israel to justify its violence, among other factors.

The ninth session started with Sebastien Palla and Mostafa Bostani’s presentations. Palla’s paper titled, “Death, Political Violence, and Peace Processes in the Xinhua News French Edition Coverage of the Israeli War on Gaza” analysed how Xinhua News’ French edition framed death, political violence, and peace processes and its coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since 7 October 2023. He further proved how these frames align with China's international policy and the narratives of non-western countries. Bostani’s “The Politics of ‘Terrorism’: Contested Media Narratives in the Israeli War on Gaza,” explored the contested nature of the discourse on terrorism in international politics and its influence on media narratives during the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. He argued that the lack of a universally accepted legal definition of ‘terrorism’ lends itself to an area spiked with competing political narratives.

The 10th and final session of the International Winter School 2025 was led by Tamari Taralashvili and Emir Hambo. Taralashvili’s “Disinformation in the Digital Age: Nationalism, Conflicts, and Fear in the South Caucasus,” looked at the impact of disinformation on nationalism, conflicts, and fear in the South Caucasus, with a focus on recent geopolitical developments. She further provided recommendations to reduce the harmful effects of disinformation. Hambo highlighted how media representation influences shared remembrance and harmony among communities residing in post conflict regions, emphasizing the importance of impartial reporting, for fostering long term peacebuilding efforts.

Concluding the Winter School program, which is the first of its kind in the region, the organizers thanked the Winter School participants, lecturers, discussants, chairs, and volunteers. Building on the notable success of now six rounds of the International Winter School, the ACRPS seeks to maintain this academic tradition, providing researchers around the world the opportunity to connect and exchange ideas with scholars and researchers in the Arab region.