What do we teach our children?

Quality of educational video material Israeli-Palestinian conflict far below par

What do we teach our children? That is a question that every parent or teacher asks. It’s even a question for anyone thinking about the future. Do we teach children prejudices or do we teach them to think critically? This question is also the title of this report on the educational video material produced by NOS and NTR on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This report is based on the analyzes of 35 knowledge videos – School TV, NOS op 3, NOS Stories, NPO Kennis – and 45 episodes of the youth news program Jeugdjournaal. Because this material resorts to the NPO code of journalistic conduct, it has been assessed according to those journalistic standards. It didn’t meet that requirement. In addition, this code is in fact not suitable for assessing educational material.

That is why we also assessed the material according to educational standards – that it met even less – and we advocate that this assessment becomes standard. Education is not journalism. Moreover, the government and media have a special responsibility for children and young people; this is even laid down by law.

Especially at a time of increasing anti-Semitism, reporting about Israel should be balanced and factual, especially for the youth.