Gill Hoffman, chief political correspondent and analyst for The Jerusalem Post visits UB

On April 16, 2018 in the Department of Jewish Thought’s Friedman Library at UB, Mr. Gil Hoffman, a well-established Israeli media expert, shared his experiences as a journalist conversant with key figures in Israeli and Palestinian political leadership. He highlighted the importance of knowing the Israeli politics from “within” and on these grounds argued that the notion of “foreign correspondent” in Israel is outdated. Rather, at the age of global communication, journalism must be local and done by those with intimate knowledge of the constantly fluent and changing "now" of the political life, he argued.

In the discussions following his talk, issues of the role of Israeli journalism in forming public opinion among different groups in American society were discussed. A debate centered on the question of whether the notion of a “foreign correspondent” is still relevant in view of the demand to know the current condition of not only the region reported about but also of the public to which the journalistic correspondence addresses itself.

The event was cosponsored by Chabad House of Buffalo and Hillel of Buffalo. The Department of Jewish Thought hosted the event in the spirit of academic freedom, without endorsing views expressed or discussed.