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Current media scene based on exclusion, fierce hostility towards the other — expert

By JT - Apr 22,2017 - Last updated at Apr 22,2017

Mustafa Hamarneh, president of the Economic and Social Council, gives a lecture at the Jordan Media Institute (Photo courtesy of the Jordan Media Institute)

AMMAN — The first condition that a journalist should meet is professionalism, which is no less important than advanced legislation, Mustafa Hamarneh, president of the Economic and Social Council, has said. 

"If the media is not professionalised, we will stay where we are and we will lag behind, not keeping up with modern civilisation," he stated. 

In a lecture delivered at the Jordan Media Institute (JMI) last week, moderated by JMI Dean Basim Tweissi, Hamarneh discussed the  economic and social options  for the media in Jordan. Hamarneh, who was previously the chairman of the board of directors of the Jordan Radio and Television Corporation, pointed out that professionalism is based on two aspects: knowledge and moral responsibility. 

He affirmed that journalists and media workers cannot make progress without expanding their knowledge base, which is the philosophical root that provides the compass for writing. Likewise, the media cannot advance without moral responsibility, according to a
statement from the JMI. 

Hamarneh called on media colleges and faculties to focus on professionalism in their curricula and to equip students with the requirements of media work, theoretical weapons and the necessary tools to direct them to search for the truth. 

He said that every theoretical framework has its tools and is linked to the style of writing, which shows the status of the press writer and their inclinations. 

The lecturer maintained that there is no neutrality in the media. Rather, there is an objective approach that prevents a professional from accusing the other of lying or using non-objective terms until they establishe the truth.

 He added that many reports presented by the youth in various media are missing a message or objective, which indicates that the decision-maker lacks the simplest tools of knowledge, and the method and approach of search and investigation.

On the media situation, the founder of the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan said: "The current media scene is based on exclusion and fierce hostility towards the other, whoever they might be. It is also based on settling scores and personal vendettas, which are not related to the subject being discussed or the historical stage we are experiencing." 

"What we see on some social media sites, in terms of the huge flow of misleading information, confuses public opinion and deepens fears that turn into vendettas," he added

Hamarneh referred to people in Jordan who have been "victimised because of the pressure of the media, which is far removed from the truth". 

He added that some websites compete over who has more information without heeding the truth of what they offer to the public. Sometimes, they deliberately seek to mislead people, and the falsity of this information is revealled. 

Regrettably, he continued, this pattern gets repeated every day on a number of websites. The writers do not learn the value of presenting information characterised by professionalism and credibility. Instead, they repeat the same mistake. Even readers who get false information from these sites end up going back to them time and again.

The founder of Al Sijil newspaper said that "50 per cent of our knowledge of Western society came through our reading of Western newspapers". 

"We studied the dynamics and movement of society, political parties and their positions, social assemblies in different regions, and other daily issues, which we learned about from the press." 

He wondered: "Can any person draw conclusions about the dynamics of Jordanian society through what they read in the local media? Absolutely not. This is a flaw." 

He called on media workers to conduct an in-depth and professional study of societal issues and subjects and present them to the public, regardless of the results, as media workers have a responsibility to speak the truth. He urged intellectuals and media professionals to expand their knowledge base and change the type of dialogue in the country. 

 

The lecture is part of the "guest lecturers programme", in which the JMI hosts a number of opinion leaders, decision-makers and prominent journalists to sum up their views on a number of topics.

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