The following post should be read with this post from Naseem Tarawneh   I was just strating to energize my brain cells to write about a phenomenon I have long observed in the Jordanian blogs, when I read Nassems' fantastic post about the same issue entitled "Jordanian bloggers and blogging about the issues that really matter". The brilliant post and the lively debates in Naseem's blog form... [read more]

The miserable statement for regulating Arab satellite media announced by the Arab information ministers at their "exceptional" recent meeting in Cairo caused a wave of negative reactions from many journalists, intellectuals and human rights institutions and media organizations in the Arab world. This united refusal of the document provided an ironic model for the Arab writers and journalists being... [read more]

If you are a journalist aged 21-35 read this opportunity carefully for a media contest called "the Boundless media" contest supported by a collection of European Organizations.   The "Boundless" media contest promotes cultural diversity, and, in particular, cross-border journalism that makes an innovative contribution to the ongoing dialogue between cultures. The deadline for application is September... [read more]

In a long history of bad official decisions against press freedom in Jordan, it takes such a scandelous situation to be labelled as the most damaging to the image of press freedom in Jordan. In my own humble opinion, the decision of the so-called Audiovisual Commission to halt the launching of Jordan's first independent TV stations (Al Ghad TV) is the one the wins the title in a landslide victory,... [read more]

In the past couple of days I have been trying to follow the short summaries and promotional materials aired by Al Ghad TV in its experimental broadcasting, and I have a feeling we are anticipating a drastic change in the quality of Jordanian TV and satellite broadcasting. It is obvious that the official Jordan TV is in a pathetic state and it can never be allowed to reflect the true progress in... [read more]

Check out more reflections about the workshop from Ahmad Humeid   The German-Arab Media Dialogue organized by the German Foreign Office and the German Institute for Cultural Relations held in Amman last week was an important chance to discuss issues related to new media, blogging and conventional media outlets. Although the German Embassy sent many invitations to Jordanian bloggers only two... [read more]

No word has ever been more "exploited" in Jordan and the Arab World more than "reform" in the last few years. As if it has been magistically discovered in a deep cave in the Arabian political desert, reform has been the most welcomed guest in all political projects developed by the USA and EU for the Arab World after September 11th and has been the silver bullet for the political and socio-economic... [read more]

A very interesting debate has been emerging on OmAr's blog regarding the decision of the "Jordan Blogs" aggregate to take the "Jordanian Issues" blog by Khader Kanaan off the list, presumably for ultra-open political statements that are directed against the Jordanian regime. The JB aggrehator committee is mainly aware of potential legal liability. Khader is an anonymous blogger whose Arabic blog... [read more]

I will refere here to our dear blogger and expert in Middle East issues Mr Abu Aardvark who has posted about two important public opinion polls on reform and media freedoms in Jordan.   I have written a long post in my Arabic blog about the survey conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) in the University of Jordan to explore the understanding and perspectives of the Jordanian public... [read more]

Gone unnoticed in most national and Arab media, for obvious reasons was the "Press Freedom Index 2006" published annually by the "Reporter Sans Frontiers". Jordan and all countries in the Arab world have slipped down the ranking system this year, mainly due to the "Cartoon Controversey" earlier this year, as the organization claims. In the index published by RSF Jordan obtained an embarrasing... [read more]

I have never hidden my negative attitude towards Al Jazeera's Arabic satellite channel, and my aspirations and hopes for the success of the new Al Jazeera International are based on the assumption that the English satellite will not adopt the manipulative methodology of its Arabic mother and turn out to be a more credible source of information. Al Jazeera's Arabic channel based its popularity in... [read more]

Human Rights Watch has came strongly to lead a "free speech" crusade in favor of the poor, impoverished, underpreviliaged and discriminated -against Jordanian citizen Adnan Abu Odeh. In a press release that acted as a propaganda for Abu Odeh rather than a decent analysis of the restrictions on press freedoms and freedom of expression in Jordan Human Rights Watch took the role of a defence laywer... [read more]

The past two weeks were both active and worrisome for journalists and advocates of press freedom in Jordan. They are fighting a legal battle against the Lower House of Parliament, and to a lesser extent against the Government for the development and endorsement of a modern and progressive press and publication law. To begin with, any full-fledged democracy does not need a press law. In Jordan, we... [read more]