AMMAN — Six
journalists working for Al-Rai newspaper were fired for demanding their rights
and the
Jordan Press Association is now working to return them to work.
اضافة اعلان
“The crisis of
Al-Rai newspaper is old; since 2011,” said JPA Vice-president Jamal Shtewi,
adding that the newspaper’s financial situation started to decline financially
10 years ago.
What is
happening today “is one of the consequences of this old crisis. The dismissal
of the six employees is a clear example of mismanagement,” he said.
Shtewi added
that Al-Rai director-general was “deliberately” delaying salary payment, even
though the
Social Security Corporation (SSC)'s “Estidama” and the “Tamkeen” program
were supporting Al-Rai financially.
“The
government’s sole aim was to help Al-Rai overcome its financial crisis, along
with Ad-Dustour, through consultations on a range of possible decisions,” he
added.
In January, many
companies were listed as “most affected”, including Al-Rai, Ad-Dustour, and
Al-Ghad News. Later, Al-Rai was helped by SSC to help it to continue
functioning until at least June, but Shtewi said that “a package of government
decisions was expected then, to support Al-Rai indirectly”, and that one such
decision should have been to exempt all newspapers from paying income tax or
sales tax.
He added that
Al-Rai director-general was late in sending the required data to the SSC, which
upset some employees who, when attempting to talk to the administration, were
told by the director-general that “we do not know if there will be salaries”.
This roused the
employees’ anger and they resorted to protest and escalation.
“There is indeed
mismanagement at Al-Rai,” said Shtewi, adding that although the chairman of the
board of directors tried to improve the financial position of the newspaper,
the director-general, with “his traditional/old way of thinking”, was an
obstacle to those efforts.
An example of
financial mismanagement at Al-Rai was the administration’s choice to work on
“luxury improvements”, which cost JD3,000, while neglecting the commercial
printing press license, which generates a lot of money for the newspaper. The
accumulated loss of not attending to the license cost and maintenance costs
stands today at JD100,000.
JPA issued a
memorandum to the prime minister, asking for support for journalists, said
Shtewi, adding that the government promised to take several measures to support
print media within the budgetary possibilities.
Prime Minister Bisher
Al-Khasawneh described Al-Rai and Ad-Dustour as private companies, Shtewi said,
adding that the premier was not wrong, as, under Jordanian law, these
newspapers are private, but “these institutions can be considered
semi-governmental and everybody should pay more attention to the prime minister’s
emphasis on the need to maintain these newspapers.”
Shtewi stressed
that JPA will always work to protect journalists, that it fully supports Al-Rai
employees who were fired and “will remain supportive of them until they return
to work because they did not violate any law but demanded their rights, nothing
more”.
“JPA will
continue to reject any unfair action against these and other journalists,” said
Shtewi.
In an interview
with Amjad Asfour, an Al-Rai employee who spoke to
Jordan News on behalf
of the other five who got fired, he said that the problems at Al-Rai were
exacerbated when the government and some parties in power started to appoint
presidents, directors, and employees to help them benefit, when in fact they
have no actual knowledge of how to manage the newspaper business.
“The only losers
are the employees,” said Asfour, adding that the six journalists were fired for
having claimed their rights two years ago and now claiming salaries that they
had not received for seven months, while the director-general and his deputy
received increases estimated at hundreds of dinars and the expenses of the
board of directors reached thousands of dinars.
Asfour stressed
that Al-Rai newspaper owns means of production, such as commercial printing
presses, which could have helped it survive, but there was management and the
company started accumulating losses when, in 2007, it had made more than JD22
million in profits.
Many employees
proposed solutions to develop the newspaper, keep abreast of the developments,
resort to social media, and exploit the capabilities of the youth, but the
administration continued to ignore these solutions and took the newspaper to
collapse, said Asfour.
Al-Rai is an old
and essential institution, he said, adding that he hoped the government will
not deal with it “on the basis that it is only a for-profit company”.
Asfour
emphasized the journalists’ confidence in JPA, which “is the only and most
powerful way to get our rights back”.
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