Officially, Jordan has only three government-owned media outlets: Jordan Television, Jordan Radio, and the Petra News Agency. However, a significant number of what are classified as "community" media outlets receive funding from, or are affiliated with, state-funded institutions, including Al-Mamlaka TV and stations and radio stations owned by the armed forces, public security, and universities.

Even with regard to daily newspapers, the Social Security Corporation owns a stake. Influential from shares all from newspaper Al-Rai (55%) and Al-Dustour (33%), which, along with Al-Ghad, are the three major daily newspapers in Jordan. Furthermore, there is competition for government advertising, particularly among daily newspapers; Al-Rai and Al-Dustour have been suffering from a severe financial crisis for years. This advertising is ultimately a tool to support from Government, and submission At the same time, she has it.

Despite the presence of a journalist one only imprisoned in Jordan Currently, however, this is mainly due to the self-censorship that journalists practice on themselves, so that they do not put themselves in danger, whether through legal prosecution or even losing their jobs.

At the same time, fear is not the only motivation for adhering to an editorial line favorable to the government and other official institutions. The influence of so-called "soft containment" also plays a role, which means controlling journalists and media outlets through financial grants and gifts, facilitating services and procedures within official institutions, appointing them to government or semi-government positions, regularly inviting them to important official meetings and accompanying officials on trips, providing easy access to information, and offering customs exemptions, free medical treatment, or free education.

According to the most recent available survey on this topic, dating back to 2012, 82% of journalists expressed their belief that "governments employ co-optation tactics to control the media." Meanwhile, 42% of opinion leaders reported having been "subjected to attempts at co-optation." Financial incentives were identified as "the most common co-optation tactic used by governments to control journalists."

Consequently, it seems understandable that public opinion varies regarding the extent to which local media outlets enjoy the necessary freedom to express diverse viewpoints, particularly political ones, though this opinion remains almost consistently low. Similarly, the majority considers... A large percentage, reaching 68.2%, states that "Jordanian media outlets express the government's point of view," and that these institutions (66.1%) "avoid or ignore covering certain issues or topics."

• The silent dominance of the private sector

  When discussing the independence of Jordanian media, the focus is often on the overreach of the government, security services, and other official institutions. However, in addition to this governmental/official overreach, which takes the form of intimidation or control, there is a similar, "private" overreach practiced by advertisers, particularly large corporations.

  With media outlets increasingly competing to attract advertising that is increasingly turning to social media, it has become expected that major advertisers will generally be appeased.

  It can be said that most of what is published about large companies and their counterparts under the guise of "news" and "reports" is in fact press releases issued by those companies, or materials that have been approved from the outset by their public relations department.

Media share of the Jordanian advertising market

(One million dollars)

Source: Wresearch6

In this context, one can cite a report on " coverage " means Media Jordanian For elections Council Parliamentary Eighth Ten 2016 ", which He pointed to the "blurring of paid advertising with journalistic and news content" as "one of the most widespread professional and ethical violations, particularly in some television stations and websites." The report also stated that "some media outlets resorted to entering into advertising contracts that guaranteed candidates who placed paid advertisements preferential media coverage." Furthermore, there was a "link between the publication of news about candidates and coverage of their activities, on the one hand, and paid advertising, on the other, in some websites and daily newspapers. A candidate who places advertisements on a website will have that website publish promotional material for the candidate in the form of news articles."

In addition to the above, businessmen occupied Rank The first among "non-governmental" entities that "practice soft containment methods on journalists", with a percentage of 69%.

• Weak talent development and training

  “Journalism is one of the most difficult sectors to enter and even more difficult to sustain,” says journalist Nadine Al-Nimri, who worked for many years at two of Jordan's leading daily newspapers before joining an international organization. For years, Jordanian media has suffered from a crisis related to the availability, support, and retention of talented journalists.

  Jordan has witnessed significant quantitative expansion in recent years. teaching Media studies are offered in public and private universities. However, this expansion has come at the expense of quality, due to a shortage of specialized academics, on the one hand, and more importantly, the separation of academic education from practical application, due to the "weakness of the professional aspect and applied knowledge of these teachers".

  At the same time, the financial crisis, as well as the lack of vision and interest, make the training provided after engaging in journalistic work weak and of limited impact.

  Thus, the first training Al-Nimri received, as she recalls, was "a year and a half or two years" after she first entered the field of journalism. Before that, she relied on "self-education and asking colleagues who were older and more experienced than me about how to write journalistic material."

  And in In 2016, 27.5% of Jordanian journalists felt that "there is no clear commitment from (the editorial board/management) to the sustainability and development of training." Meanwhile, 35.1% believed that "media training in Jordan does not keep pace with technology and modernization," in addition to 28.4% who felt that it "does not take into account the professional development of the Jordanian media community," and 22.3% who felt that it "does not meet the needs and requirements of journalists."

• The displacement and depletion of journalists

  The economic crisis that media institutions are suffering from leads to a lack of job security and satisfaction, and consequently wastes the already scarce talents in the Jordanian media sector in multiple ways.

  One of the most prominent of these problems is the inability of journalists to dedicate themselves to a single job, which inevitably affects the quality of their work. A survey revealed that "44% of the Jordanian media community work more than one media job, i.e., they are multi-employed, and work for more than one institution in order to meet their financial needs."

  Moreover, many journalists, especially those with advanced skills, may resort to leaving sector Media Local Finally, to join the private sector, civil society institutions, or international organizations, as public relations or advocacy officers, just as happened with Al-Nimri.

  Despite her emphasis on what journalistic work added to her, and the societal impact that her work and other colleagues had, she simultaneously faced the question of "career advancement and acquiring more skills" that newspapers were no longer able to provide, for several reasons, some of which were administrative, as well as financial.

  In addition to the above, there is a relatively new trend of journalists turning to what is called the“journalist-influencer”, especially since Jordan is one of the Arab countries distinguished by the spread of the phenomenon of influencers in general.

  However, a survey shows He observed that 38.7% of Jordanians trust news related to public affairs that comes from influencers and activists on social media, compared to 52.8% who trust journalists and media professionals.

The future: reform or buying time?

Despite the political and economic factors that play a crucial role in weakening the presence and influence of Jordanian media on the public, there are also subjective professional factors that exacerbate the crisis of this media, including the weak role of the Journalists Syndicate in terms of training and protection.

It seems clear that the union's role is focused on increasing government support for the media, thereby deepening the relationship of dependency between them. It should be noted that 66.4% of journalists They were may They crossed on non Their satisfaction on performance The union, as 81% considered it Subject to control the government degree large (39%) or Average (42%).

In addition, there has been recent work to try to resolve the union's financial crisis at the expense of websites, through activation Article (43) of order Interior The union stipulates that the latter shall receive an amount of one thousand dinars annually from these sites, similar to other media institutions.

The Jordanian media landscape remains full of challenges, as Al-Nimri says:“Journalistic work is one of the sectors that is very difficult to enter and very difficult to continue in.”

This report is produced by Wishbox Media in collaboration with the Qareeb program, which is implemented by the French Agency for Media Development (CFI) and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).

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