Archive for the 'Media Activism' Category

Aug 04 2011

Jordan’s ‘voluntary’ news sites registration law will not work

Published by under Articles,Media Activism

By Daoud Kuttab

Jordan’s registered media outlets will be soon welcoming a new group: news websites. Continue Reading »

No responses yet

Jul 07 2011

The Casino reports’ Other revelations

Published by under Articles,Jordan,Media Activism

The Jordanian public has been mesmerized these past weeks with the casino case debate in parliament, in which senior government officials have been charged with a variety of administrative errors and crimes. The 70-page detailed report faults 33 individuals, including the prime minister, with wrongdoing. But while the parliament and country have been focused on the actions of the first Bakhit government, a much more serious strategic problem was revealed in these findings.

A close read of the report shows a dysfunctional, chaotic system surrounding the prime ministry. The detailed report of the parliamentary committee exposes a haphazard institution which lacks basic checks and balances needed for the proper functioning of a government. It is not clear whether some of the problems present during the first Bakhit government continue today. Continue Reading »

No responses yet

Jun 23 2011

Independent media hopes – a setback

Published by under Articles,Jordan,Media Activism

By Daoud Kuttab

I was caught off guard when the call came from the Prime Ministry. The governmental committee set up to design a strategic media plan wanted to hear my opinion. Along with Nidal Mansour, from the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists, and Rana Sabbagh, from Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalists, we met with the committee three times. I met with the committee members a fourth time, when they consulted radio station owners and managers. Continue Reading »

No responses yet

Apr 02 2011

Five working days in Doha, QATAR

Published by under Articles,Media Activism,Personal

I spent five working days in the Qatari capital of Doha teaching a course on writing opinions behalf of the International Center for Journalists. Forty Qataris between journalists and public servants involved in media issues attended in two repeated sessions held at the Qatar News Agency with twenty in either morning or afternoon session. Continue Reading »

No responses yet

Mar 22 2010

Citizen Journalism Defended Despite a Tough Challenge in a Berlin International Conference

Published by under Articles,Media Activism

The challenge wasn’t easy. Werner D’Inka, a member of the editorial board of one of Germany’s most prestigious newspapers, Frankfurt’s Allgemeine Zeitung, emphatically proclaimed, “We don’t deal with citizen journalism and we see no reason why we should.”

The statement followed two key note addresses in favor of citizen journalism by Solan Larsen, managing editor of Global Voices, and Stephen Lang, editor of Grocotto’s Mail in Grahamstown, a trend-setting citizen journalist media outlet in South Africa. The venue was a conference in Berlin hosted by the International Media Institute and entitled, “At a Tipping Point: Community Voices Create a Difference.”

Continue Reading »

No responses yet

Feb 04 2010

Electronic Media Debate

Published by under Articles,Media Activism

By Daoud Kuttab

The decision by the Court of Cassation to classify websites as “publications” and thus apply the Press and Publications Law to them is troubling.

Unlike other laws that criminalise press violations, Jordan’s Press and Publications Law only allows civilian punishment, meaning that electronic media violators might be fined, but not jailed. But the problem facing web-based publications is much more complicated when it comes to jailing or fining web publishers.

Continue Reading »

One response so far

Nov 17 2009

Radio Balad experience highlighted in Paris

Published by under Articles,Media Activism

The following appeared in the Jordan Times

Radio Balad experience highlighted in Paris

AMMAN (JT) – The experience of a Jordanian radio station was highlighted in an international meeting at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris last week titled “Voice and Empowerment through Community Media”. Attendees in an international UNESCO conference co-sponsored by AMARC, the world association of community radio stations, heard about the efforts of Radio Al Balad’s listeners’ club, according to a statement from the station. “During the Israeli war on Gaza, members of this club were able to enrich the station’s broadcasting by providing live eyewitness reports from different parts of Amman after Friday prayers,” Station Director Daoud Kuttab told participants from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. The final resolution of the conference, co- sponsored by AMARC, called on UNESCO member states to facilitate the working of community radio stations and to cancel licence fees and other obstacles.

17 November 2009

No responses yet

Nov 28 2008

كلمة داود كتاب في افتتاح مؤتمر أريج

Published by under Articles,Media Activism

كلمة داود كتاب في افتتاح مؤتمر أريج

قبل عدة أشهر وأثناء وجودي في جامعة برنستون الامريكية شاركت عبر الانترنت وبالتعاون مع المركز الدولي للصحفيين في دورة للإعلامين العرب حول الصحافة الاستقصائية. وضمن نشاطات الأسبوع الاول للدورة طلبنا من المشاركين مراجعة وسائل اعلامهم المحلية خلال الايام الثلاثة الماضية واختيار تحقيق إستقصائي لكي يتم مناقشته بين المشاركين في الدورة. عكست النتيجة مشكلتين لطالما واجهتنا. اولا عدم قدرة غالبية الصحفيين العرب على التمييز بين التحقيق العادي، او ما نسميه ريبورتاج او فيتشر، والتحقيق الاستقصائي. وثانيا وهو الاهم الغياب النوعي والكمي للتحقيقات الاستقصائية في إعلامنا العربي.
Continue Reading »

No responses yet

Jun 05 2007

The end of censorship?

Published by under Jordan,Media Activism

This is the full version of the article ( an edited version appeared in the Jordan Times)

The end of censorship?

Daoud Kuttab,

THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 4, 2007

Quietly and without any fanfare, the decades-old censorship laws on the books in Jordan were scrapped earlier this month. The official gazette published an amendment to the regulation which ends the work of the government censors.

The head of the department of press and publication, Marwan Qteishat, says in media reports that Jordan is now like most other countries in which publishers may print whatever they wish without any prior censorship. The public at large, of course, is free to fight in court against any book they deem violates them or their community.

Continue Reading »

One response so far

Nov 18 2006

Statement issued at the end of the Middle East and North Africa

Published by under Articles,Media Activism

Statement issued at the end of the Middle East and North Africa day during the Amarc9 conference held in Amman 11 November 2006

We the participants of the Amarc9 conference held in the Jordanian capital Amman on Saturday November 11, 2006 request the following

Continue Reading »

No responses yet

« Prev - Next »