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Ammon News - Minister of Government Communication Faisal Shboul Sunday said that empowering spokespersons at public institutions has become institutionalised and a priority for the Ministry of Government Communication to ensure the flow of information to the press.

During a meeting with ministry spokespersons at the Jordan News Agency, Shboul said the Ministry of Government Communication is responsible for empowering media spokespersons by supporting the institutional status of media departments and their training needs.

He said the training programme delivered for ministry spokespersons in 2022 strengthened their role by training them to provide information to their target audience with more fluidity and speed of response.

Shboul noted that the primary role of media spokespersons is providing information to the media and countering misinformation, adding that officials figures indicate a decrease in the rate of monthly rumours in the past year from 50 to 30.

He said the Ministry of Government Communication had developed a plan to train 75 media spokespersons in government institutions during the current and next year.

He added that they aim to train workers in ministry and public institution media departments, noting the "importance" of the role of government communication workers in supporting the implementation of the road map for reforming the public sector.

Shboul noted on top of the Ministry's agenda is the completion of a draft of the government's media policy, adding that the Ministry would share it for dialogue and discussion with the Jordanian Press Association, editors-in-chief of daily newspapers, journalists, academics, international institutions and ministry and institution spokespersons and communications workers to ensure consensus.

He said Jordan had submitted a guiding draft law to the Arab League aimed at regulating work with international media companies, explaining that the draft law would ensure the circulation of social media Arabic content and address misinformation, hate speech, violation of privacy and limits to the expression of opinion on Arab causes, for most of which is the Palestinian cause.

In turn, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Jordan, Randa Abu Al-Hassan, said the aim of launching the project to support the media and strategic communication capacities of the Jordanian government came in light of the challenges the government faces and the role of ministry and institution spokespersons in promoting Jordan's messages, describing them as "the voice of confidence."

She noted that UNDP Jordan is completing an "important" phase of the project by providing ministry media spokespersons with technical and digital empowerment equipment.