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The Jordan Media Institute (JMI) concluded the project "Battling Misinformation and Promoting Rights and Freedoms in Jordan through Media Literacy," held with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Norwegian Embassy in Jordan.

In a statement on Thursday, the JMI said that the project came in response to the COVID 19 pandemic which highlighted the urgent need for individuals to access information and verify including freedom of the press and expression.

JMI also held a closing ceremony for the project, in the presence of the Norwegian Ambassador to Jordan, Espen Lindback; JMI Chief Executive Officer, Mustafa Hamarneh; Dean of the Institute, Mirna Abou Zeid, and representatives from partner civil society institutions, journalists, professors, activists, and students who participated in the training.

The ceremony launched MIL webpage on JMI’s website, which uploads all the project outputs of materials, training manuals and videos, and an audio-visual training guide to media and information education for civil society institutions.

The guidebook aims to enhance the spreading of awareness against rumor and misinformation, and confront hate speech, bullying and stereotyping through sharing the concepts of MIL with target groups so they can use them in their programs and projects.

"JMI is the first entity to introduce media literacy to Jordan and is the regional pioneer in introducing and expanding its concepts to the Arab world where awareness of MIL competencies is gaining ground As new technology has become at the fingertips of everyone, everyone is a participant in creating, reading, and engaging in content. It is key that we continue to keeping up with digital transformations and it has become essential that our world today is educated on the distinction between news and opinions; on critical interpretation of content; and on the concept and procedures toward digital security," said Abou Zeid.

The project aimed to increase public awareness of MIL concepts, in addition to using digital and social media platforms to enhance MIL skills, including access to information, message analysis, and content creation and production. In addition to the audio-visual guidebook, five short video clips were produced to raise
awareness of MIL concepts.

"The coronavirus pandemic has shown us how crucial access to reliable information is if we are to safeguard everyone’s rights and maintain a high level of trust within our societies. We appreciate the emphasis the Government of Jordan is placing on media literacy, as well as JMI’s important work to enhance media and information literacy skills in its programming", said Lindback.

The training was followed by a number of seminars at the Institute that shed light on the most prominent challenges and issues faced during and as a result of the pandemic on the sectors such as health, economy, education, media, culture, and social relations, in which a number of specialists spoke, namely; Nawaf Al-
Ajarmeh, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education; medical expert Issa Abu Dayyeh; Taha Darwish, former director of the "Akeed" Monitor and faculty member at Petra University; Youssef Mansour, economist and former minister; and the academic, Reem Al-Zoubi.

A number of trainees spoke about their experiences during the project, and the skills they acquired on MIL concepts and skills, such as how to deal with news and how to publish it, and how to tell the news correctly while adhering to ethical and professional standards of journalistic work, such as integrity and credibility.