US embassy cable - 05AMMAN6408

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006408 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS ALL NEAR EAST COLLECTIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2015 
TAGS: KDEM, KPAO, PHUM, JO 
SUBJECT: DEVELOPING MEDIA FREEDOM IN JORDAN 
 
REF: AMMAN 05918 
 
Classified By: CDA DAVID HALE. REASON: 1.4 (B) 
 
1. (C) Introduction:  A free media sector will play a central 
role if Jordan is to continue moving toward a more democratic 
political order.  Free media and open information 
environments are also necessary to sustain economic growth 
and to raise public confidence in the integrity of the 
government and its regulation of the economy.  Until 
recently, Jordan's media environment could be characterized 
as &semi-independent,8 with the government and the palace 
exerting considerable control through legal, financial, and 
societal pressures.  Over the past two years, there have been 
a number of legislative and personnel changes, as well as 
intensive media coverage and discussion of some politically 
sensitive issues.  However, the first stirrings of new 
independence in Jordan's media occasionally work to amplify 
criticism of U.S. foreign policy and to undercut Jordan's own 
reformists, at least in the short run.  End introduction. 
 
The regime's levers on the media 
 
2. (SBU) The government exercises control over the media 
through a number of provisions in the Press and Publications 
Law that regulates media affairs, the Press Association Law 
that regulates journalists, the penal code, with its 
provisional amendment of 2001 providing for journalists to be 
tried in special anti-terror courts (since rescinded), and a 
number of other statutes.  Between them, these laws provide 
for prison sentences or heavy fines against journalists and 
publications should they write critically about the King, the 
royal family, the armed forces, security services, heads of 
states and political symbols of all nations, certain crimes 
committed in Jordan, or the Jordanian economy or currency. 
The government also exercises control through the shares it 
holds in publishing enterprises -- sixty percent of the stock 
of the influential semi-official Arabic daily Al-Ra'i, and 
thirty percent in the widely read center-left Arabic daily 
Al-Dustour.  Another source of economic clout comes from paid 
announcements and printing contracts, which are among the 
principal sources of revenue for any publication or printing 
press.  The government also exercises control directly on 
journalists by appointing them as "media advisors" to 
ministers and other officials, appointments that carry a 
salary five to ten times the journalist's regular pay, but 
which may be swiftly terminated should the journalist offend 
the government in any way. 
 
3. (SBU) Given the widely understood restrictions on what is 
permissible to print, investigative reporting is virtually 
non-existent in Jordanian dailies.  Some weeklies publish 
reports on the government's misuse of authority, but they are 
either so full of innuendo and oblique references that it is 
nearly impossible to decipher what the story tries to say, or 
they are personal, poorly researched, and inaccurate. 
Recently, stories on topics such as corruption seem to be 
growing bolder, naming accused parties or describing them 
clearly enough that most informed readers can identify them. 
 
A stunted media sector 
 
4. (SBU) Media liberalization has been viewed with suspicion 
by many, probably most in power, due to security concerns 
among the old guard who see free speech as potentially 
threatening to regime stability, or who see it as the role of 
loyal media to disseminate a positive view of the government 
and the palace.  Interestingly, even some here who consider 
themselves reformers often view the prospect of a free media 
as potentially undermining and complicating their work.  As a 
result, the media have generally avoided real analysis, 
investigative reporting, or critical commentary on topics of 
importance to the government.  Red lines of course start with 
the royal family, but have traditionally included 
particularly sensitive topics such as corruption among top 
leaders.  The press is, as a result, timid, mediocre, and 
bitter, abdicating its potential role as a monitor and 
advocate for society and failing to step up to liberalizing 
opportunities offered by reformist cabinets (in part, because 
they are skeptical and don't want to be the ones to test the 
limits of official tolerance).  Readers, in turn, have become 
cynical and have ceased believing what they read in the 
papers.  The government then lashes out at an "inept and 
backward" media incapable of explaining accurately to the 
people the wisdom of its policies. 
 
5. (SBU) Opinion columns are the main attraction for the 
Jordanian readership, and allow some room for more critical 
commentary and reporting.  A respectable Jordanian daily 
contains an average of thirty opinion columns dispersed 
throughout the paper.  These, rather than news, are often 
what Jordanians seek in a newspaper, particularly because it 
is in these columns that Jordanian journalists often convey 
indirectly information that cannot be treated in a news 
story.  Sometimes a columnist may try to force a position on 
the government by attributing it to the King, albeit 
incorrectly, or float potential policy as trial balloons at 
the request of a government patron.  As a result, opinion 
columnists are stars of a sort in Jordanian society.  Many of 
these columnists are widely rumored to be on one or more 
payroll, but in Amman, this is seen as evidence of their 
importance rather than something to their discredit.  The 
most frequent paymasters are the Jordanian government, the 
PLO, and (least generously) the Syrian Embassy.  None can 
replace the generosity Saddam's Iraq showered on Jordan's 
press corps. 
 
More assertive journalism makes reform and U.S. initiatives 
its first targets 
 
6. (C) Recently, however, there have been signs of incipient 
change in both the print and the audio-visual media.  The 
government abolished the Ministry of Information (even tore 
it down) and implemented a provisional law enabling licensing 
of private radio and television broadcasters.  This last 
measure aims chiefly to generate revenue, but it will also 
raise the level of media freedom.  It is noteworthy that the 
license for a broadcaster who wishes to carry news is twice 
as expensive as that for a purely entertainment station.  The 
growth of the Jordanian private sector has also provided a 
stronger economic base for the emergence of independent 
media.  Competition among print media and FM radio stations 
is starting to have a salutatory effect.  Some examples of 
the media's new dynamism, and its sometimes frustrating 
consequences, follow: 
 
- Recent reporting of the Parliament's criticism of Prime 
Minister Badran's cabinet contributed to changes in 
ministerial portfolios (reftel).  A number of editorials very 
openly questioned the entire cabinet selection process, 
indirectly citing the King's role, and called for extensive 
change.  Ironically, this unprecedented and successful 
challenge to the government worked to the benefit of 
traditionalists here, and brought about the dismissal of 
highly effective reformist ministers. 
 
- Media reporting of the heated parliamentary debate over the 
new government's agenda during the vote of confidence was 
heavy and critical.  This coverage included a number of 
articles and opinion pieces focusing on the issue of 
corruption, government steps ostensibly aimed at curbing 
corruption, and innuendo about well-known (but so-far 
unnamed) royal and government officials rumored to be part of 
corrupt business deals.  The combination of parliamentary and 
press criticism sidelined the government's draft 
anti-corruption legislation until November at the earliest. 
 
- The media is closely covering debate over draft legislation 
regarding independent audio-visual media and the status of 
state-controlled Jordan Radio and Television, discussing 
publicly the need to change JRTV from a "government" media 
outlet to a "national" media outlet that serves citizens 
rather than any specific government or party.  While the 
issuance of initial private-sector broadcast licenses in 2004 
is promising, it remains to be seen whether the draft 
legislation and the new managers recently put in place at 
JRTV will lead to any true change.  Most private stations 
licensed after 2004, for example, are entertainment radio 
stations that are copies of Radio Sawa's mix of Arabic and 
foreign music aimed at the young, without Sawa's news 
coverage.  They quickly came to dominate the scene because 
their music selection and entertainment programming is more 
focused to suit local tastes.  Consequently, entertainment 
stations such as Fann FM and Mood FM command the highest 
advertising rates. 
 
7. (C) Oraib Al-Rantawi, Director of the Al Quds Center for 
Political Research and frequent contributor to major 
Jordanian dailies, told PolOff that he has lately noticed 
that the press is allowing greater leeway in editorials 
addressing certain political topics.  He noted that fewer of 
his editorial submissions related to political reform and 
government operations were being rejected (or sent back for 
major revisions) by papers out of fears of government 
displeasure.  He added, however, that he had seen no shift in 
the red line that surrounds reference to the state security 
services, as the security apparatus was still highly 
sensitive to criticism.  As an illustration, he noted that 
when Arabic daily Al-Ghad printed a very brief story "buried 
inside its pages" on a complaint by a patient at an army 
hospital about the absence of the on-duty physician, the army 
protested vigorously to the paper about the unfavorable light 
in which it had been cast. 
HALE