Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Editor-in-Chief of daily newspaper The Jordan Times (JT), Samir Barhoum, decided to suspend Thursday's opinion column by Randa Habib, Agence France-Presse’s bureau chief in Amman.

Barhoum told Ammon News that Habib's weekly column has not been suspended, but the decision pertains to Thursday's column only for "internal editorial reasons," noting that the decision is an internal matter to The Jordan Times.

Barhoum criticized media outlets, including Ammon News, for reporting on the incident and "not being patient" until he answered journalists' repeated phone calls.

"It is unrealistic that a campaign would be launched against an editor-in-chief following the suspension of any opinion column. I have called Randa Habib, who I respect, and explained to her the meetings we have been holding since the morning, especially that there is a protest going on at the Jordanian Press Foundation (Al Rai) newspaper," he added.

The Ammon News team had contacted Barhoum repeatedly since the morning and sent him several emails on Thursday to inquire about the incident.

Barhoum stressed that JT enjoys a high level of press freedom, and expressed that the newspaper's editorial management did not face any pressures in regards to Habib's column.

"Some even get angry at our coverage sometimes, but we continue in our work on professional and objective standards," he told Ammon News.

Earlier on Thursday, Habib told Ammon News that she does not know the reason her weekly opinion column was suspended, adding that she attempted to contact The Jordan Times' editor-in-chief and others at the daily English newspaper, but got no response.

She explained that she contacted a journalist at JT to inquire about the decision, but also got no adequate response.

Habib has been writing her weekly column in JT on and off since the 1980s.

Habib noted that the Arabic version of her column this week is available on Ammon News' Arabic site, and contains nothing that would prevent the opinion piece from not being published.

"The newspaper should have informed me of the decision, at least out of courtesy," she told Ammon News.

She refused however to link JT's decision to any particular incident, stressing that "some things we don't understand these days."

"Everyone attests to my professionalism. I have not changed, and I work with a conscience," she added.

In response to Thursday's JT decision, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Taher Adwan said that he had no prior knowledge of the decision, noting that it is a decision taken by the newspaper itself.

Adwan, who is also the government spokesperson, added that he is surprised "any columnist would be suspended from writing at any newspaper."

He stressed that the government's authority over the press needs to stop, "we want to put an end to government interference in press institutions."

Head of the Jordanian Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) Nidal Mansour denounced such attempts to restrict freedom of the press, and told Ammon News that censorship is practiced on editors of daily newspapers.

"Such censorship does not accord to professional standards, but rather obstructs political orientations and opinions of columnists and journalists, stipulating what is allowed and what is prohibited," he said.

He expressed that government and security interference in daily newspapers puts restrictions on the media. "This must stop," he added.

"We reject suspending the column of our colleague Randa Habib. With all due respect to her, the situation here does not only relate to Habib, but also to many columnists. Our campaigns are against all forms of censorship."

The Jordan Times, the only daily English newspaper in Jordan, launched in 1975.

* By Banan Malkawi form Ammon News Arabic