Jordan Times
Monday, August 29, 2005
Muasher reviews media issues
with JPA members
AMMAN (JT) — The government and the Jordan Press Association (JPA) are united in
efforts to achieve responsible press freedom, a senior official said yesterday.
During a discussion on Sunday with the president and members of the JPA, Deputy
Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said the decision to abolish the Information
Ministry and mandating the boards of official media outlets to run the
institutions was part of the government's plan to ensure independence of the
official media, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The Jordan Television and Radio Corporation and Petra are led by boards of
directors comprising experts from the private and public sectors.
Muasher highlighted the necessity to prevent tabloids from slandering people and
trespassing on their private lives, but cautioned against any measures that
would jeopardise press freedoms.
He referred to a recent speech by His Majesty King Abdullah in which the Monarch
criticised certain tabloids for character assassination and defamation campaigns
against figures and institutions.
Muasher said cooperation between the JPA, the Higher Media Council and the Press
and Publication Department was required to regulate the work of the media and
locate violations by media outlets.
JPA President Tareq Momani recently spoke out against tabloids, threatening to
penalise any publication that breached the JPA-drafted code of ethics.
He earlier told The Jordan Times that the JPA had received several complaints
from citizens on the behaviour of weeklies and individual journalists.
Disciplinary measures could include total revocation of the journalist's
membership at the JPA, and in certain cases violators would be referred to the
authorities.