My Notes on
Mass Media in the Middle East: A Comprehensive Handbook Book by Yahya R. Kamalipour
Jordan Media: According to recent statistics, 28 percent of the population is illiterate. A constitutional monarchy, Jordan has evolved its own democratic system and abolished martial law legalizing political parties opening way for political pluralism. While press laws have been relaxed, broadcast media continues to remain under government control (parallel to many Arab countries)
Jordan in 1920. Following the forced influx of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Jordan following the 1948 Israeli-Palestinian war, two Palestinian papers formerly published in Jaffa transferred to Jerusalem and moved again to Jordan in 1967 after Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
Forty newspapers, mostly political, appeared in the 1950’s as a result of a growing liberal atmosphere in the country. The government first started to put limits on the press in 1967 following newspaper criticism of the Jordanian Army’s responses to Israel border raids. Even with limited private ownership, the press in Jordan, as a result, began to appear as loyalist in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. Government-press relationships in Jordan in the 1980’s can best be viewed in light of King Hussein’s observation: Press freedom should not be conceived of separately from press responsibility. After the democratization process took form in 1989, a new attitude replaced the rigid government regulation. By the end of 1992, there were four dailies (Al-Rai, Al-Dustour, Sawat Al-shaab, and English language Jordan Times), 20 weeklies, and 6 magazines in Jordan. Al-Rai is believed to be the most popular and influential daily with a daily circulation of 90,000 copies, contributed a little over half to local news and about 41% to international news (highly dependent on western news agencies)
Al-Dustour, the second largest, is a political independent daily and owned by both private and public institutions and has been subject to government suspicions sporadically since its establishment in 1967. Like Al-Rai, Al-Dustour relies on western global agencies for its international news.
In 1975, the only political English daily newspaper in Jordan, the Jordan Times, was launched and has a circulation of 12,000 copies mainly read by diplomats and university staff.
The first radio station started in 1936 under the British Mandate – Palestine Broadcasting Service – based in Jerusalem and airing in both Palestine and Jordan. The station was established to counter Italian propaganda in the Middle East. After 1948, the tower was taken over by Jordan forces and the station was renamed the Hashemite Broadcasting Service. In 1959, King Hussein described the station as Jordan’s “vivid voice, energetically defining Arabism and Islam” By the end of 1992, HBS was broadcasting in English, Arabic, and French covering vast topics mostly service-oriented, news, politics, and religion. The dominance of service-oriented programs (43%) involved talk shows between listeners and officials, which provided citizens opportunities to discuss daily life problems in the country. Another channel was launched in 1992 that broadcasted traffic updates during rush hour.
Television appeared rather late in Jordan even when neighboring countries like Lebanon and Syria have fully familiarized with it. The Jordanian government established its first television channel in 1965 as a government-controlled operation and a second channel – carrying foreign programs – was added by 1990. The main channel, Jordan Television, is exclusively in Arabic while the foreign channel carries programs in French, Hebrew, and English.
A turning point of Jordan Television was when it broadcasted live King Hussein’s arrival at his home after undergoing major surgery, demonstrating its technological proficiency. Jordan T.V is also a member of the European Broadcasting Union and a full member of the Arab States Broadcasting Union.
Print Media is predominantly privately owned whereby broadcast media continues to serves as a public, government-controlled operation. As far as government censorship goes, Jordanian press law most recently modified in 1993 forbids publication of news about the Royal Family, articles defaming religion or contrary to public morality, and unauthorized military information. Newspaper editors have actively spoke out against these provisions.
The Jordanian News Agency serves as a collector and distributor of local news in Jordan and abroad.
Mass media in Jordan often carry programs on health, environment, childcare, and birth spacing – all promising signs of the importance of national development in Jordan. Jordan T.V also cooperates with the Ministry of Education to produce educational materials to be viewed by students on subjects including geography and chemistry.
As far as direction goes, according to King Hussein’s inaugural speech in 1993, Jordanian mass media’s main objective is to work towards enhancing freedom and Arab unity. There is little doubt that this inclination would fall short.
Jordan in 1920. Following the forced influx of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Jordan following the 1948 Israeli-Palestinian war, two Palestinian papers formerly published in Jaffa transferred to Jerusalem and moved again to Jordan in 1967 after Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
Forty newspapers, mostly political, appeared in the 1950’s as a result of a growing liberal atmosphere in the country. The government first started to put limits on the press in 1967 following newspaper criticism of the Jordanian Army’s responses to Israel border raids. Even with limited private ownership, the press in Jordan, as a result, began to appear as loyalist in the 1970’s and ‘80’s. Government-press relationships in Jordan in the 1980’s can best be viewed in light of King Hussein’s observation: Press freedom should not be conceived of separately from press responsibility. After the democratization process took form in 1989, a new attitude replaced the rigid government regulation. By the end of 1992, there were four dailies (Al-Rai, Al-Dustour, Sawat Al-shaab, and English language Jordan Times), 20 weeklies, and 6 magazines in Jordan. Al-Rai is believed to be the most popular and influential daily with a daily circulation of 90,000 copies, contributed a little over half to local news and about 41% to international news (highly dependent on western news agencies)
Al-Dustour, the second largest, is a political independent daily and owned by both private and public institutions and has been subject to government suspicions sporadically since its establishment in 1967. Like Al-Rai, Al-Dustour relies on western global agencies for its international news.
In 1975, the only political English daily newspaper in Jordan, the Jordan Times, was launched and has a circulation of 12,000 copies mainly read by diplomats and university staff.
The first radio station started in 1936 under the British Mandate – Palestine Broadcasting Service – based in Jerusalem and airing in both Palestine and Jordan. The station was established to counter Italian propaganda in the Middle East. After 1948, the tower was taken over by Jordan forces and the station was renamed the Hashemite Broadcasting Service. In 1959, King Hussein described the station as Jordan’s “vivid voice, energetically defining Arabism and Islam” By the end of 1992, HBS was broadcasting in English, Arabic, and French covering vast topics mostly service-oriented, news, politics, and religion. The dominance of service-oriented programs (43%) involved talk shows between listeners and officials, which provided citizens opportunities to discuss daily life problems in the country. Another channel was launched in 1992 that broadcasted traffic updates during rush hour.
Television appeared rather late in Jordan even when neighboring countries like Lebanon and Syria have fully familiarized with it. The Jordanian government established its first television channel in 1965 as a government-controlled operation and a second channel – carrying foreign programs – was added by 1990. The main channel, Jordan Television, is exclusively in Arabic while the foreign channel carries programs in French, Hebrew, and English.
A turning point of Jordan Television was when it broadcasted live King Hussein’s arrival at his home after undergoing major surgery, demonstrating its technological proficiency. Jordan T.V is also a member of the European Broadcasting Union and a full member of the Arab States Broadcasting Union.
Print Media is predominantly privately owned whereby broadcast media continues to serves as a public, government-controlled operation. As far as government censorship goes, Jordanian press law most recently modified in 1993 forbids publication of news about the Royal Family, articles defaming religion or contrary to public morality, and unauthorized military information. Newspaper editors have actively spoke out against these provisions.
The Jordanian News Agency serves as a collector and distributor of local news in Jordan and abroad.
Mass media in Jordan often carry programs on health, environment, childcare, and birth spacing – all promising signs of the importance of national development in Jordan. Jordan T.V also cooperates with the Ministry of Education to produce educational materials to be viewed by students on subjects including geography and chemistry.
As far as direction goes, according to King Hussein’s inaugural speech in 1993, Jordanian mass media’s main objective is to work towards enhancing freedom and Arab unity. There is little doubt that this inclination would fall short.
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