I have been reading the local papers today with some amusement. The ripple effects of the King’s meeting with media industry representatives are making headlines only a day after that meeting. It’s as if with one sweeping statement, everything has changed. Now while the King’s words are in all probability sincere, a commentator in yesterday’s post on the topic rightly pointed out something crucial: this is not an issue requiring a top-down solution. It’s just not that simple. The core of this issue, from the very bottom, needs to be adjusted in order to get the desired outcome. While vision at the top is there, it’s everything beneath that seems to be missing.
And with that in mind, the Lower House Financial and Economic Committee committee, upon hosting its own meeting with media reps, has extended it’s support for the issue, and “called on media establishments to provide it with pieces of legislation they wish to amend in order to examine and submit related amendments to the Lower House.” [source]
Now this is an interesting development. While such a meeting could have easily preceded the Kings’, it came right after, which gives me the perception that this isn’t the Lower House taking initiative but simply pandering to the highest common denominator. We are stuck in this system where things do not work and when the King speaks with a sense of frustration, everyone in government (be they elected or appointed) scrambles to please. I can draw on at least half a dozen examples just from this past year. And I’m not a political expert but something tells me that this isn’t the way government should work.
Also, the issue of media reform in this country always seems to come with one giant string attached: the responsibility of the media.
I completely agree that the media sector requires a high sense of responsibility, especially if we’re striving for a free speech scenario. It is essentially (in theory) the public’s arm for accountability, and that comes with an obvious degree of responsibility. The reason this point is stressed is because the local press does have the tendency to stray from journalism ideals and run unsubstantiated stories as fact, every now and then. Keeping in mind that most people in this sector have not had the necessary training or education to be journalists, you are still stuck with editorial boards that run stories with no fact-checking. The repercussions are sometimes enormous, as we witnessed earlier on this past summer.
That being said, there is no leeway here. There is no room to operate. I don’t think people in this country really understand how difficult it is to get someone on the record. To get information. If their sources are willing to speak out about something, few are willing to go on record. People are afraid to speak up or have their name attached to their words in print, and with good reason. Sources are incredibly hard to come by, and it’s frustrating when you’re talking about a society that loves to talk and loves to show how they’re in-the-know, even if they’re not.
Access to information. Access to information. Access to information.
It’s a point worth repeating three times. With no access, there is no information, and with no information you open doors that are best left closed. There need to be protective laws; ones that allow for whistle-blowers in the worst case, as well as a journalist’s right to protect his or her sources.
But right now, all we’re getting is pandering:
Al Arab Al Yawm’s Chief Editor Taher Adwan told The Jordan Times that journalists are citizens in the first place and should be held accountable if they break the law.
“Press freedom is two-fold: Protecting the media on the one hand, and protecting society and individuals from defamation at the hands of the media on the other,†Adwan said.
He added that the ball now is in the journalists’ court and they must act accordingly to safeguard the profession and its image. [source]
So essentially, after the King assures everyone the media’s reaction is to place the ball in it’s own court. Are things really that simple?
Even NGOs are getting on board…
“Although the King has spoken on this topic on several occasions, this time his message was strong, direct and clear. It is obviously geared towards acting quickly to amend discriminatory laws against women and ensuring a safe environment for children,” said Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) Secretary General Asma Khader.
“It is an indication that lawmakers need to adopt additional procedures to amend discriminatory legislation, including laws that offer leniency to killers in so-called honour crimes and improve services for abused women and children in our society,”
Again, this isn’t a system that should be based on waiting for the King to say something. It needs to be automatic. Where was Parliament (both the elected and appointed halves) when it came to calling for media reform or domestic abuse or honor crimes? No where. Even now they’re barely there, and that’s a year after the elected half was voted in.
The whole concept that I, as a Jordanian citizen, am unlikely to see change in a whole myriad of issues until the King talks about them all, is simply disheartening. If this is the equation, then what will it take to change the biggest problems plaguing us today? Would it take 6 hours of the King speaking on prime time television, running down the list of all the things that should be changed before we actually see any change?
The answer is an unfortunate no. If that absurd circumstance were to ever take place then what you would see is a whole lot of pandering and a whole lot of scurrying around the very next day and perhaps in the weeks to follow, as everyone ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, pretending to do some work. And in a few months time, maybe a year or two from now at the most, it will all be forgotten about. Policy paper, projects, reform initiatives, legislation, master plans, will all be shelved away somewhere to collect dust, until they become someone else’s problem. Because simply put, there is no drive and no vision and no initiative from the bottom. And in the rare instance that such initiatives go through, implementation is non-existent.
I’m not a political expert, but something tells me that this isn’t the way government is supposed to work.
But that’s just my two piasters.
While I agree with you that the government should act by itself rather than waiting for the Kings direction over and over again, I am so glad that he made it clear and precise this time and that they are acting on it.
We may need to copy from Sweden. All public activities are open. A journalist can even ask for the prime minister email archive. Public officials can’t avoid journalists and journalists are protected and their resources. Only the head of the newspaper can be hold responsible. And there are some organizations who monitor the media.
I don’t think it has much to do with access to information (that is your own personal hurdle to political involvement, but sadly, I wish I could say that is such the case with Jordanians at large).
I think that because we live in a very patriarchal society, where the status quo has always been left untouched, and people were afraid to challenge the status quo, because they have been weary of the repercussions (our history showed us fine examples, so they do have a right to be weary). In this patriarchal society, the population has always relied on the government, and the King to take care of the population. This is also probably due to the fact that political life was absent in Jordan until the late eighties early nineties, and because the government was much more centralized during King Hussein’s reign.
That’s also why Jordanians will always look at the late King Hussein as a father, because he treated the population as his children, which worked fine then, but now we still seem to operate in the same mindframe. We were always too reliant on the government, and when people want something, they go to the King, or to their constituents in parliament to fulfill their requests. Instead of taking initiative and taking matters into their own hands, and fulfilling their desires and requests for themselves.
We will never have grass roots development as long as we think in this manner, and although the King is supporting such movements, still, the lower employees and public servants, and the lower police forces do not agree with the King’s vision. They still believe that the population should never be empowered, and go out of their ways to set up hurdles for anybody that dares to take initiative. This is why the GAM employee will bombard you with red tape when you want to set up your own business, and why two skinny short termites with thick mustaches will bombard each and every public debate.
While we’re at it, I think that education has a lot to do with the manner. Our education taught us to be passive recipients of information, instead of actively seeking for education and enlightenment ourselves. It also has a lot to do with society itself, whenever a person does not fit into the mold of a stereotype, that person is quickly discarded. Being different is social suicide.
This remarkable King needs the people of this beautiful country to show up, put their best foot forward and take action – from the bottom up. People – including journalists, media workers, creators of all kinds, orgs, readers, commentators, makers, enablers etc – ‘the people’ – need to find a way to be driven by faith and responsibility and curiosity, and a burning desire to deliver.
The problem with most workers in this country is that they are only working to please one person – the boss. So a junior employee will do whatever to please his direct supervisor. And the country’s lethargic and confused officials flutter around wanting only to please His Majesty.
Going to work with the objective of pleasing your boss is a failing tactic and a road to destruction.
That takes the soul of the work. It confuses everyone. It forces people to think about the press release and the award and the thank you party, and the Iftar at the Palace, instead of the work. And because our heads keep changing, the work gets derailed and fumbles towards pleasing the new guy.
Jordan is suffocating, choking and trapped in this downward spiraling behavior. People need to stop living and behaving and working like life here is a popularity contest.
IMHO, I think HM should do two things:
1. Forbid Royal patronage of anything for the next few years – no one, no initiative, no event be allowed to engage the Royal Family in patronage for any reason and in any way. Get people to do the work for the right reason, and not the photo op.
2. Ask for a reporting mechanism that allows the voice and judgement of the mid & lower half of an org to contribute to the alleged deliverables of senior officials and the org as a whole.
Real workers with real drive need to be allowed to get work done for real reasons.
there is no magical stick that change things, it will take ages and generations to improve unless something big happens as a social revolution, or at least persistent certain groups push for their causes, at least millions of money shall be poured to change certain realities.
We miss principles, goals, and aspirations to start from the bottom up. Poverty in terms of lacking any sort of means will always paralyze the mass.
Observer:
PH:
Nadine:
Ahmad:
brilliance!
your inputs are what’s needed in this kind of public discussion
As was the case when it came to the reform of systems and procedures at Queen Alia International Airport last year. How long did those last? Five, maybe six months?
We need a way of objectively measuring progress on all fronts. Usually journalists help in doing that, however our journalism is broken. How about having a consultative board of renowned journalists that can act as an advisory board, and a yearly conference of journalists for open exchange of ideas on the frustrations of the job.
Also, many professions have certifications that can be taken during the course of the career. Why not have that for our journalists?
Dave:
Exactly. I think this is one of the more recent larger examples that prove the point. Everyone remembers that famous photograph of the King’s visit to the airport and I think everyone also remembers how great procedures were for a few months, which was essentially the seeeing of lax security in favor of a faster clearance rate. And I think things by now, less than a year later, are going back to the way they were and it’s likely to stay that way under the guise of a recently placed “under construction” sign. When that sign is removed and a new terminal emerges, will procedures and operations have improved?
Zait:
A worthy point. I believe, if I’m not mistaken, that the government is working on something like this. Training facilities are emerging. But I’m forced to wonder, when it comes to professions like journalism and teaching, why isn’t there a standardized school with certification that is nationwide, mandatory and on-going? When it comes to teaching, I believe a new training center is also emerging but it wont be mandatory and will only be training a handful of teachers. In other words, you can still graduate from a university in physical education in June and be a high school math teacher by September.
Lets think of an example: Does anyone recall the national agenda? Can someone ask the king what happened to it? and why Dr. Marwan Mouasher left the country? Can anyone ask the king why Dr. Awadalla was removed from his post?
Then, what about reforming the elections law to become a real representation of the people? Or should we wait as Abd elhadi elmajali said until the palastenian issue is solved and he is able to know where every citizen heart is?!!!! It is as if they have the right question your loyalty based on their own birth place and not based on the rights that they should grant to their citizens! And people keep talking about transperancy..OK, lets have transperancy, but why not lead by example, right? Striking guidleines is an easy task, but one shouldn’t expect action based on word, one should lead by action, one should lead by examining oneself..
Also, the illness of jounalism in only a symptom, just like many other symptoms. Any change in jordan will and should be generational, but from what we see-even with the appointments by the king- is more power granted to those who failed us in the past, and this is very disappointing. The latest example is Dr. Awadalla, even though I don’t have the full information and no one will have, but why not stick to your guns? Why cave in under pressure?
It is just sad!
Speaking of the parliment, some twenty members are planning to, well, here it is
تدرس مجموعة من النواب إعداد مذكرة تطالب بØجب الثقة عن وزير المالية بسبب عدم مواÙقته Ø§Ù„Ø³Ù…Ø§Ø Ù„Ù„Ù†ÙˆØ§Ø¨ ببيع اعÙاء جمرك السيارات الذي منØÙ‡ مجلس الوزراء لاعضاء مجلس النواب قبل Øوالي ثلاثة اسابيع.
The question is: Isn’t priviliging the MPs a kind of corruption? Can this be rightly called bribery?
Well, at least they are busy doing something..
For all the people out there that have doubt about the state of affairs of iron fist and the tactics that has been exercised by the king and his securities apparatus…source “Faiz al-Ajrashi, editor-in-chief of the weekly Al-Akhbariya, has been charged with “agitating sectarian tension and creating strife among people” under article 150 of the Penal Code, defense lawyer Mohammed Qutaishat told CPJ. Qutaishat said al-Ajrashi could face between six months and three years imprisonment if convicted.
Last month, the governor of Amman, Saed al-Wadi al-Manasir, filed a lawsuit in the State Security Court against al-Ajrashi after the newspaper published articles criticizing the governor’s performance.
“We are disturbed by the criminal prosecution of a journalist who reported in the public interest, and we are utterly dismayed that this is taking place in a military court,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “The case against al-Ajrashi should be dropped immediately before it does further damage to Jordan’s press freedom record.”
Al-Ajrashi’s lawyer is appealing Tuesday’s decision.
The editor is also facing another charge of failing to “respect the truth and lack of objectivity” under the Press Law, his lawyer told CPJ. If convicted on this count, he could be fined up to 500 Jordanian dinars (US$700), Qutaishat said.”
urduni: please watch the words you choose to use. despite the commenting policy of this blog, at the end of the day, we live in a country where i can be held accountable for something you said on the other side of the ocean.
thanks
please don’t generalize, I’m not afraid putting my name on printed words. Spell it: a-n-o-n-y-m-o-u-s 🙂
nice post
Nas: great work as usual. Your reply to urdini’s comment reflects worries that this whole freedom of speech thing is a sham. If the statements, speeches and sentiments of the past few days are to be trusted, you would not be worried.
Personally, I think you have every right to be worried. Some people do not understand this freedom of speech thing is just for show – it was never meant to be taken seriously. I will add it to my mental list: “The Environment”, “Women’s Rights”, “Democracy”, “Youth Employment Schemes” and now “Freedom of Speech”.
ibby: actually i edited urduni’s comment for adjectives i found to be slanderous if not profane. i do not worry about the criticism as a i believe a citizen has a right to criticize, but there’s a right way to do it. swearing at people isn’t one of’em.
I wrote an article about freedom of speech like 4 years ago which was about to be printed in a local magazine it was entitled:
“Freedom of Speech!
Thank you for giving it to us. Can we Use it now?”
As you can guess it never saw the light. Not that I blame the editors after all why even bother to go down that slippery slope.
Human Rights Watch have been watching us and put us on the “watch-list” of some of the worst countries that violate human rights! GO figure!
We live in a police state which I do not mind. But what I do mind is the constant stream of disinformation and propaganda, where they keep on bleating that there is nothing wrong with (fill in space with your favourite cause) mine is the economy + Human rights… for now. And free press what is that, when an editor of a magazine or newspaper has to deal with the secret police and censorship to the extent that some editors have been called in to swear before a commitee that they will not criticise and/or write negatively about the government. So there’s your free press. And three quarters of the people editing writing or doing stuff for magazines are simply not qualified to do so.
It is now called the bored west-ammani housewife syndrome, “I am bored I think I will make a magazine after all its all stolen from the net.” (a quote I heard recently).
And I can catalogue a whole encyclopedia of our lovely little kingdoms failures and fiascos, but lets face it we live here, and we deal with it as best we can. And in Jordan it is quite true the change should come from above, but unfortunately when it comes to the place where it is needed, it has been diluted and warped out of shape beyond recognition.
This is my truth now tell me yours!
Nasseem,,What is so slanderous and profane when I used the word thuggish or even thugs?,what would you call sombody that systematically turture people ,A HUMN I ADVCATE??
Naseem: Are you still there or were you carted away in the middle of the night? Please post something…..
SXTZ: “We live in a police state which I do not mind.” Made me laugh out loud 🙂
urduni: sigh. based on your logic, either you are part of this “thuggish” apparatus and you’re using your “thuggish” ways to bait me, or, you’re just being intentionally thick.
pick one
Hi All,
Once more our King set a precedent in the Arab world. Well done your majesty.
Fadi
Fadi: Actually Qatar has had no restrictions on freedom of speech for years. This is one of the reasons AlJazeera covers topics that other Arab owned media outlets shy away from. So no precedent was set here.