AMMAN — Activists on
Sunday, September 5, 2021, gathered in front of the Jordan Press Association to
protest drafted government policy changes regarding media laws and regulations
seen as crippling to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
اضافة اعلان
The changes, which are
still at the Legislation and Opinion Bureau affiliated with the Council of
Ministers, suggest raising the fees to renew the license of web-based
newspapers from JD50 to JD500. Media websites that plan to broadcast via the
internet would also be expected to pay JD2,500 to get the license under the
drafted law.
The drafted laws also
include a controversial amendment that would bar individuals and organizations
from broadcasting live on the internet without authorization, which has drawn
fire from activists as a measure aimed "to muzzle mouths."
The campaign is led by
a coordinating committee comprised of owners and journalists manning e-papers,
supported by the Jordan Press Association. Participants in the Sunday sit-in
called for aborting the process of enacting the new regulations, the
government's resignation, and the resignation of the director of the Media
Commission, Tareq Abu Al Ragheb, who was considered an opposition figure in the
past but now serves as a government official.
In remarks to Jordan
News, Jo24 Editor in Chief Bassel Okoor said, "The government's move is
blatant aggression on the
press freedom and the rights of social media users to
express their opinions. Our demand is to withdraw these amendments, and then
the government should sit with us at the negotiating table."
Okoor added that the
campaign was planning an orchestrated "electronic storm" late Sunday,
September 5, 2021. Various news websites would simultaneously publish materials
as part of the resistance against the government's prospected laws.
The activists have
already launched three hashtags:
#انقذوا_حرية_التعبير
#اسحبوا_أنظمة_الإعلام
#أنظمة_الإعلام_مخالفة_للدستور
(Save freedom of
expression; withdraw the media regulations; the media regulations are
unconstitutional).
Jordan Press Association Council members joined the chorus of
protesters. Khaled Al-Qudah, a council member, urged journalists to join ranks
to "Repel the attack on the freedom of the press." Another council
member, Hadeel Ghabboun, said that the amended pieces of the legislation are still with the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, and the process is still
ongoing, responding to recent reports that they have been shelved.
Read more National news
.jpg)
.jpg)
