جوردان تايمز - Nothing much was done in the way of granting more freedoms and access to information on events in the region and beyond, feels a press corps frustrated and discontented on yet another World Press Freedoms Day.

One more year has passed since last observing this significant event, but in the country journalists insist they are still treading water, moving in the same stale circle of empty official promises of better days to come.

In fact many contend that repeated government schemes of modernisation and reform are only still plans, at best. According to journalists, the executive authority has no clear policy on how to deal with the press and has, in many cases, proved reluctant to relinquish part of its control over the media.

The plethora of restrictive laws that concern the press including the controversial Press and Publications Law (PPL) which sanctions the imprisonment of journalists for publication offences have also negatively affected their performance and left the media corps in a vulnerable and dependent state.

Although no cases of arrest of journalists over press offences have been recorded, many claim that official harassment continues and that government censorship, as well as self-censorship, are widespread.

“We are in the same place we were last year. We have not inched ahead in terms of freedoms. And that alone is a colossal problem,” said journalist Bassam Badarin.

Badarin, a correspondent for the London-based Al Quds Al Arabi, cited last month’s survey by the Higher Media Council (HMC) as a clear testimony to the current sad but true state of press freedoms.

The HMC survey, which came up with almost the same result as last year, shows that journalists still enjoy “relative freedom.”

Measuring the level of press freedoms from Jan. 1, 2005 until Dec. 30, 2005, the survey recorded 56 per cent, a little better than last year’s result of 49 per cent. The six-percentage point difference was attributed to the fact that no cases of temporary closures were reported in the past year, while one case was reported in 2004. In addition, no case of prior censorship or confiscation of machines and documents was recorded in 2005, whereas there was one case of each in 2004.

Nonetheless, some media experts and journalists maintain the level of freedoms remains low or even regressed.

They said critical media have little chance of even getting off the ground.

“Out of experience, I can say we actually regressed in terms of press freedoms. More censorship and scrutiny of what is being written in dailies was practised,” said analyst and media expert Bassem Sakijha.

Over the past year, a number of his articles that touched on sensitive issues, including the recent hike in oil prices and last month’s Hamas episode, were not published, he told The Jordan Times.

Sakijha, who represents Transparency International in Jordan, has a regular opinion piece in Ad Dustour daily. He said chief editors of the country’s dailies have come under pressure by the authorities to censor controversial articles and opinion pieces.

Director of the Centre for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) Nidal Mansour concurred. He said prior censorship remained prevalent, even though “direct government and security interference” in journalists’ work markedly dropped.

At the same time, he and Jordan Press Association President Tareq Momani said there have not been any reports of journalists being summoned by the authorities or questioned. “This is a positive indication,” Mansour said.

Journalists insist that the same issues considered as hindering press freedoms over the past several years prevailed in 2005 and the first quarter of 2006. State control of the media was high on the list of complaints, followed by lack of access to information and government interference in journalists’ work.

The fact that the government still appoints chief editors of the main dailies and refuses to relinquish control of the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation (JRTVC) are also perceived by media experts as indications of its lack of will to genuinely liberalise the media.

The three main Arabic dailies, Al Rai, Ad Dustour and Al Arab Al Yawm, are partially owned by the government and its investment arm, the Social Security Corporation (SSC).

JRTVC’s former board of directors, perceived by many as liberal and mandated with restructuring the indebted and weakly performing institution, was recently replaced with a new board that many described as conservative and with a traditional mindset.

Although governments insisted they no longer have control over the press after divesting themselves of the SSC shares, journalists say the grip remains firm. And according to observers, even the three editorially and financially independent dailies, Al Ghad, Al Diyar and Al Anbat, have to succumb to government pressure and toe the line if they want a piece of the lucrative public sector’s advertisement pie.

Although media experts differed on the margin of freedoms the press was allowed, most agreed that the underlying problem was the ever-changing legislation.

They said the legislative environment has become more restrictive; the press corps finds itself confronting new laws every year in the absence of a set of principles that guarantee a higher ceiling of free expression.

Journalists cited the amended PPL, which includes a controversial clause allowing the incarceration of journalists, as one example. The amended law, which maintained the clause, was presented to Parliament and later withdrawn. The law now retains the imprisonment clause along with heavy fines suggested by the Lower House National Guidance Committee.

Other laws, such as the State Security Law and the Penal Code, have provisions that sanction jail sentences for journalists publishing illegal material.

“I think we all feel that the sword is still hanging over our heads, as journalists, because of such laws,” said Randa Habib, Agence France-Presse bureau chief in Amman.

She said although in practice the situation is much better than before, due to the fact there have been no recorded arrests of journalists or official summoning, the fact that such a law was not changed is still worrying.

Most journalists believe the February arrest of two journalists for republishing the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad do not fall under press freedoms cases, but are rather a religious issue.

Habib, a media expert who described the situation as two steps forward and one step back, said the regional and local political circumstances including the Nov. 9 bombing of three Amman hotels, had a negative effect on the way the government handles the media.

“Obviously the situation is complicated by the political developments, but one cannot only blame the government for the relative freedoms,” she said, adding that the onus is on the journalists who have to strive to raise the ceiling of free expression.

“Journalists have to do their homework and make an intensive effort to change the status quo. Nobody will give you freedom on a silver platter if you don’t claim it,” she said.

The country’s press corps has been described by some observers as weak, and lacking the tools and proper training to cover major issues of concern and deal with them in a professional manner.

JPA, the body that regulates the profession, has often been accused of falling behind in providing its members with adequate training and focusing more on minor services and on dealing with its own internal differences. Over the past year, journalists said, its main mission was to combat a recommendation by the National Agenda Committee suggesting that mandatory membership in the union be scrapped.

In general the static state of press freedoms in the country remains part of the overall situation in the Middle East. According to a report by the US-based Freedom House, despite overall improvement of press freedom in the Middle East and North Africa over the last several years, the region continues to rank the lowest on press freedoms in the world.

The study showed that Jordan, along with Algeria, Morocco and Egypt, have witnessed improvements since 2004 and are only one point away from being ranked as “Partly Free” countries.

The desired changes, many insist, require patience and work at all levels, including improving the political arena, the liberalisation (privatisation) of media institutions and the awakening of the press body.

Journalists have to be aware of the meaning of press freedoms and fight for more, media experts agreed, and governments should be able to strike a balance between fears about security and the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression and public liberties.