Ammon News - By Khalid Neimat

AMMAN - Media reform might not be the top priority of the new government agenda, but the main task would be to rein in the mushrooming electronic press, observers said on Thursday.

But that does not mean the battle would be easier than the one fought by the outgoing government, they noted.

"Restructuring the media, in terms of legislation and structure, will not be a major topic of interest for the new government," Al Ghad columnist, Jamil Nimri, told the Jordan Times yesterday.

But he and other analysts agreed that media-related pieces of legislation would be revisited, in fulfilment of His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives.

In his Letter of Designation, the King told Prime Minister-designate Samir Rifai that “the necessary legislative amendments must be made and the relevant policies must be adopted to establish the proper environment to develop a professional media industry and ensure the media’s right to access information and deal with it freely".

"Laws also must be amended and modernised to protect society from those practices that are unprofessional and immoral by some media outlets," he added.

As understood by analysts, the government is required to "establish a new policy towards electronic media".

Analyst Fahed Khitan, who is also managing editor of Al Arab Al Yawm, said, "the electronic media will witness changes in the coming era".

Nimri agreed, but said it is almost impossible to control the more than 60 news websites, many of which are accused of sensationalism and spreading the seeds of sedition in the community, especially by failing to filter reader-generated hate commentary.

He predicted that the new government would attempt to "officially register electronic media outlets and subject them to taxation," but “would burn its fingers in the process”.

However, Samir Hiari, chief editor of the web-based Ammon News Agency, believes that "media reform will include not only electronic newspapers, but rather would involve all media outlets".

He called on the incoming government to exhibit tolerance and accept criticism.

Ghaith Adaileh, editor of another major electronic paper Khaberni.com, said he welcomed new legislation “to put an end to the abuse of the electronic media by certain people, but any such law must not compromise press freedom".

Officials at the Jordan Press Foundation declined to comment on the issue, but a board member said the King’s instructions in the Letter of Designation were “clear and fully understood”. (Jordan Times)