Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05AMMAN6408
2005-08-10 03:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

DEVELOPING MEDIA FREEDOM IN JORDAN

Tags:  KDEM KPAO PHUM JO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006408 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS ALL NEAR EAST COLLECTIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2015
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PHUM JO
SUBJECT: DEVELOPING MEDIA FREEDOM IN JORDAN

REF: AMMAN 05918

Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE. REASON: 1.4 (B)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006408

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS ALL NEAR EAST COLLECTIVE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2015
TAGS: KDEM KPAO PHUM JO
SUBJECT: DEVELOPING MEDIA FREEDOM IN JORDAN

REF: AMMAN 05918

Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE. REASON: 1.4 (B)


1. (C) Introduction: A free media sector will play a central
role if Jordan is to continue moving toward a more democratic
political order. Free media and open information
environments are also necessary to sustain economic growth
and to raise public confidence in the integrity of the
government and its regulation of the economy. Until
recently, Jordan's media environment could be characterized
as &semi-independent,8 with the government and the palace
exerting considerable control through legal, financial, and
societal pressures. Over the past two years, there have been
a number of legislative and personnel changes, as well as
intensive media coverage and discussion of some politically
sensitive issues. However, the first stirrings of new
independence in Jordan's media occasionally work to amplify
criticism of U.S. foreign policy and to undercut Jordan's own
reformists, at least in the short run. End introduction.

The regime's levers on the media


2. (SBU) The government exercises control over the media
through a number of provisions in the Press and Publications
Law that regulates media affairs, the Press Association Law
that regulates journalists, the penal code, with its
provisional amendment of 2001 providing for journalists to be
tried in special anti-terror courts (since rescinded),and a
number of other statutes. Between them, these laws provide
for prison sentences or heavy fines against journalists and
publications should they write critically about the King, the
royal family, the armed forces, security services, heads of
states and political symbols of all nations, certain crimes
committed in Jordan, or the Jordanian economy or currency.
The government also exercises control through the shares it
holds in publishing enterprises -- sixty percent of the stock
of the influential semi-official Arabic daily Al-Ra'i, and
thirty percent in the widely read center-left Arabic daily
Al-Dustour. Another source of economic clout comes from paid
announcements and printing contracts, which are among the
principal sources of revenue for any publication or printing
press. The government also exercises control directly on

journalists by appointing them as "media advisors" to
ministers and other officials, appointments that carry a
salary five to ten times the journalist's regular pay, but
which may be swiftly terminated should the journalist offend
the government in any way.


3. (SBU) Given the widely understood restrictions on what is
permissible to print, investigative reporting is virtually
non-existent in Jordanian dailies. Some weeklies publish
reports on the government's misuse of authority, but they are
either so full of innuendo and oblique references that it is
nearly impossible to decipher what the story tries to say, or
they are personal, poorly researched, and inaccurate.
Recently, stories on topics such as corruption seem to be
growing bolder, naming accused parties or describing them
clearly enough that most informed readers can identify them.

A stunted media sector


4. (SBU) Media liberalization has been viewed with suspicion
by many, probably most in power, due to security concerns
among the old guard who see free speech as potentially
threatening to regime stability, or who see it as the role of
loyal media to disseminate a positive view of the government
and the palace. Interestingly, even some here who consider
themselves reformers often view the prospect of a free media
as potentially undermining and complicating their work. As a
result, the media have generally avoided real analysis,
investigative reporting, or critical commentary on topics of
importance to the government. Red lines of course start with
the royal family, but have traditionally included
particularly sensitive topics such as corruption among top
leaders. The press is, as a result, timid, mediocre, and
bitter, abdicating its potential role as a monitor and
advocate for society and failing to step up to liberalizing
opportunities offered by reformist cabinets (in part, because
they are skeptical and don't want to be the ones to test the
limits of official tolerance). Readers, in turn, have become
cynical and have ceased believing what they read in the
papers. The government then lashes out at an "inept and
backward" media incapable of explaining accurately to the
people the wisdom of its policies.


5. (SBU) Opinion columns are the main attraction for the
Jordanian readership, and allow some room for more critical
commentary and reporting. A respectable Jordanian daily
contains an average of thirty opinion columns dispersed
throughout the paper. These, rather than news, are often
what Jordanians seek in a newspaper, particularly because it
is in these columns that Jordanian journalists often convey
indirectly information that cannot be treated in a news
story. Sometimes a columnist may try to force a position on
the government by attributing it to the King, albeit
incorrectly, or float potential policy as trial balloons at
the request of a government patron. As a result, opinion
columnists are stars of a sort in Jordanian society. Many of
these columnists are widely rumored to be on one or more
payroll, but in Amman, this is seen as evidence of their
importance rather than something to their discredit. The
most frequent paymasters are the Jordanian government, the
PLO, and (least generously) the Syrian Embassy. None can
replace the generosity Saddam's Iraq showered on Jordan's
press corps.

More assertive journalism makes reform and U.S. initiatives
its first targets


6. (C) Recently, however, there have been signs of incipient
change in both the print and the audio-visual media. The
government abolished the Ministry of Information (even tore
it down) and implemented a provisional law enabling licensing
of private radio and television broadcasters. This last
measure aims chiefly to generate revenue, but it will also
raise the level of media freedom. It is noteworthy that the
license for a broadcaster who wishes to carry news is twice
as expensive as that for a purely entertainment station. The
growth of the Jordanian private sector has also provided a
stronger economic base for the emergence of independent
media. Competition among print media and FM radio stations
is starting to have a salutatory effect. Some examples of
the media's new dynamism, and its sometimes frustrating
consequences, follow:

- Recent reporting of the Parliament's criticism of Prime
Minister Badran's cabinet contributed to changes in
ministerial portfolios (reftel). A number of editorials very
openly questioned the entire cabinet selection process,
indirectly citing the King's role, and called for extensive
change. Ironically, this unprecedented and successful
challenge to the government worked to the benefit of
traditionalists here, and brought about the dismissal of
highly effective reformist ministers.

- Media reporting of the heated parliamentary debate over the
new government's agenda during the vote of confidence was
heavy and critical. This coverage included a number of
articles and opinion pieces focusing on the issue of
corruption, government steps ostensibly aimed at curbing
corruption, and innuendo about well-known (but so-far
unnamed) royal and government officials rumored to be part of
corrupt business deals. The combination of parliamentary and
press criticism sidelined the government's draft
anti-corruption legislation until November at the earliest.

- The media is closely covering debate over draft legislation
regarding independent audio-visual media and the status of
state-controlled Jordan Radio and Television, discussing
publicly the need to change JRTV from a "government" media
outlet to a "national" media outlet that serves citizens
rather than any specific government or party. While the
issuance of initial private-sector broadcast licenses in 2004
is promising, it remains to be seen whether the draft
legislation and the new managers recently put in place at
JRTV will lead to any true change. Most private stations
licensed after 2004, for example, are entertainment radio
stations that are copies of Radio Sawa's mix of Arabic and
foreign music aimed at the young, without Sawa's news
coverage. They quickly came to dominate the scene because
their music selection and entertainment programming is more
focused to suit local tastes. Consequently, entertainment
stations such as Fann FM and Mood FM command the highest
advertising rates.


7. (C) Oraib Al-Rantawi, Director of the Al Quds Center for
Political Research and frequent contributor to major
Jordanian dailies, told PolOff that he has lately noticed
that the press is allowing greater leeway in editorials
addressing certain political topics. He noted that fewer of
his editorial submissions related to political reform and
government operations were being rejected (or sent back for
major revisions) by papers out of fears of government
displeasure. He added, however, that he had seen no shift in
the red line that surrounds reference to the state security
services, as the security apparatus was still highly
sensitive to criticism. As an illustration, he noted that
when Arabic daily Al-Ghad printed a very brief story "buried
inside its pages" on a complaint by a patient at an army
hospital about the absence of the on-duty physician, the army
protested vigorously to the paper about the unfavorable light
in which it had been cast.
HALE