Jordan- Despite progress, room for improvement in press freedoms 

(MENAFN - Jordan Times) The government and members of the media on Thursday welcomed a recent report indicating the Kingdom's progress in press freedoms, but stressed that more work is needed.

The Kingdom improved its standing by 16 places in the 2009 Press Freedom Index, which was issued by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders late Tuesday, ranking 112th out of 175 countries.

Welcoming the progress, Minister of Media Affairs and Communications Nabil Sharif said the achievement should encourage the government and members of the press to make further improvements in the sector.

"The achievement is a good step for the Kingdom and corresponds to His Majesty King Abdullah's directives to enhance press freedoms," Sharif told The Jordan Times yesterday, citing the King's directives to the government to address the arrests of journalists for published works and the recently endorsed Access to Information Law.

Moreover, Sharif said the diversity of media outlets and the government's transparency in licensing several private media institutions contributed to the progress, stressing that authorities do not wish to monopolise media outlets.

"With our diverse media, citizens can express their views and opinions in many ways, either through print or audiovisual media or through the electronic news websites," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the Jordan Press Association (JPA) welcomed the report, saying that the progress achieved over the past 12 months reflects an increased awareness and sense of responsibility among journalists.

"This achievement should motivate authorities to take greater steps towards enhancing press freedoms locally and to revisit the legislative environment governing media performance in order to secure a more independent media," JPA President Abdul Wahab Zgheilat told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

However, Zgheilat criticised the report's methodology, underlining that not all questions included in the questionnaire applied equally to all countries.

"Some countries in the region practise censorship on journalists as well as media institutions prior to publication. Therefore, the questions about how many journalists were arrested or how many media outlets were shut down does not apply in their case," Zgheilat explained.

Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists Director Nidal Mansour told The Jordan Times yesterday that Jordan's "slight progress" was due to the fact that press freedoms deteriorated in other countries that were ahead of the Kingdom in last year's report.

"Press freedoms cannot move forward unless we have a clear strategy that tackles all obstacles preventing the improvement of media performance towards meeting the relevant international standards," Mansour said.

According to the report, Jordan ranked behind Kuwait (60), Lebanon (61), the UAE (86), Qatar (94) and Oman (96) among Arab countries, while Saudi Arabia (163), Syria (165) and Yemen (167) were near the bottom of the list.

By Hani Hazaimeh