Aug 04 2011
Jordan’s ‘voluntary’ news sites registration law will not work
By Daoud Kuttab
Jordan’s registered media outlets will be soon welcoming a new group: news websites. Continue Reading »
Archive for the 'Media Activism' Category
Jul 07 2011
The Casino reports’ Other revelations
The Jordanian public has been mesmerized these past weeks with the casino case debate in parliament, in which senior government officials have been charged with a variety of administrative errors and crimes. The 70-page detailed report faults 33 individuals, including the prime minister, with wrongdoing. But while the parliament and country have been focused on the actions of the first Bakhit government, a much more serious strategic problem was revealed in these findings.
A close read of the report shows a dysfunctional, chaotic system surrounding the prime ministry. The detailed report of the parliamentary committee exposes a haphazard institution which lacks basic checks and balances needed for the proper functioning of a government. It is not clear whether some of the problems present during the first Bakhit government continue today. Continue Reading »
Jun 23 2011
Independent media hopes – a setback
By Daoud Kuttab
I was caught off guard when the call came from the Prime Ministry. The governmental committee set up to design a strategic media plan wanted to hear my opinion. Along with Nidal Mansour, from the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists, and Rana Sabbagh, from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalists, we met with the committee three times. I met with the committee members a fourth time, when they consulted radio station owners and managers. Continue Reading »
Apr 02 2011
Five working days in Doha, QATAR
I spent five working days in the Qatari capital of Doha teaching a course on writing opinions behalf of the International Center for Journalists. Forty Qataris between journalists and public servants involved in media issues attended in two repeated sessions held at the Qatar News Agency with twenty in either morning or afternoon session. Continue Reading »
Mar 22 2010
Citizen Journalism Defended Despite a Tough Challenge in a Berlin International Conference
The challenge wasn’t easy. Werner D’Inka, a member of the editorial board of one of Germany’s most prestigious newspapers, Frankfurt’s Allgemeine Zeitung, emphatically proclaimed, “We don’t deal with citizen journalism and we see no reason why we should.”
The statement followed two key note addresses in favor of citizen journalism by Solan Larsen, managing editor of Global Voices, and Stephen Lang, editor of Grocotto’s Mail in Grahamstown, a trend-setting citizen journalist media outlet in South Africa. The venue was a conference in Berlin hosted by the International Media Institute and entitled, “At a Tipping Point: Community Voices Create a Difference.”
Feb 04 2010
Electronic Media Debate
By Daoud Kuttab
The decision by the Court of Cassation to classify websites as “publications” and thus apply the Press and Publications Law to them is troubling.
Unlike other laws that criminalise press violations, Jordan’s Press and Publications Law only allows civilian punishment, meaning that electronic media violators might be fined, but not jailed. But the problem facing web-based publications is much more complicated when it comes to jailing or fining web publishers.
Nov 17 2009
Radio Balad experience highlighted in Paris
The following appeared in the Jordan Times
Radio Balad experience highlighted in Paris
AMMAN (JT) – The experience of a Jordanian radio station was highlighted in an international meeting at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris last week titled “Voice and Empowerment through Community Media”. Attendees in an international UNESCO conference co-sponsored by AMARC, the world association of community radio stations, heard about the efforts of Radio Al Balad’s listeners’ club, according to a statement from the station. “During the Israeli war on Gaza, members of this club were able to enrich the station’s broadcasting by providing live eyewitness reports from different parts of Amman after Friday prayers,” Station Director Daoud Kuttab told participants from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The final resolution of the conference, co- sponsored by AMARC, called on UNESCO member states to facilitate the working of community radio stations and to cancel licence fees and other obstacles.
17 November 2009
Nov 28 2008
كلمة داود كتاب ÙÙŠ اÙØªØªØ§Ø Ù…Ø¤ØªÙ…Ø± أريج
كلمة داود كتاب ÙÙŠ اÙØªØªØ§Ø Ù…Ø¤ØªÙ…Ø± أريج
قبل عدة أشهر وأثناء وجودي ÙÙŠ جامعة برنستون الامريكية شاركت عبر الانترنت وبالتعاون مع المركز الدولي للصØÙيين ÙÙŠ دورة للإعلامين العرب Øول الصØاÙØ© الاستقصائية. وضمن نشاطات الأسبوع الاول للدورة طلبنا من المشاركين مراجعة وسائل اعلامهم المØلية خلال الايام الثلاثة الماضية واختيار تØقيق إستقصائي لكي يتم مناقشته بين المشاركين ÙÙŠ الدورة. عكست النتيجة مشكلتين لطالما واجهتنا. اولا عدم قدرة غالبية الصØÙيين العرب على التمييز بين التØقيق العادي، او ما نسميه ريبورتاج او Ùيتشر، والتØقيق الاستقصائي. وثانيا وهو الاهم الغياب النوعي والكمي للتØقيقات الاستقصائية ÙÙŠ إعلامنا العربي.
Continue Reading »
Jun 05 2007
The end of censorship?
This is the full version of the article ( an edited version appeared in the Jordan Times)
The end of censorship?
Daoud Kuttab,
THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 4, 2007
Quietly and without any fanfare, the decades-old censorship laws on the books in Jordan were scrapped earlier this month. The official gazette published an amendment to the regulation which ends the work of the government censors.
The head of the department of press and publication, Marwan Qteishat, says in media reports that Jordan is now like most other countries in which publishers may print whatever they wish without any prior censorship. The public at large, of course, is free to fight in court against any book they deem violates them or their community.
Nov 18 2006
Statement issued at the end of the Middle East and North Africa
Statement issued at the end of the Middle East and North Africa day during the Amarc9 conference held in Amman 11 November 2006
We the participants of the Amarc9 conference held in the Jordanian capital Amman on Saturday November 11, 2006 request the following