JPA board member reveals ‘limited’ impact of disputed Companies Law amendment

AMMAN — Board member of the Jordan Press Association (JPA) Omar Maharmeh on Tuesday told The Jordan Times that the Lower House’s controversial approval of a bill amending the 2022 Companies Law would not have a significant detrimental impact on print media, a claim which was originally published in an official JPA statement issued on Sunday. 

The disputed article in the bill is related to advertising revenue issued to newspapers by the Companies Control Department.

In the statement, JPA President Rakan Saaideh said that the amended law will stop an important cash flow that both the government and companies cannot afford. 

He also said that the amended law will exacerbate the current crisis faced by newspapers, calling the Lower House’s decision to approve the bill without sending it to committee for review “shocking”.

“The decision was made without regard to the damage that the law will cause to newspapers and the journalists association,” the JPA statement said.

The statement also said that this indicates “a lack of awareness of the importance of the media and its national role”.

Commenting on the statement, Maharmeh revealed that a JPA study showed that currently, advertising revenue does not exceed JD5,000 per month, which he deemed “insufficient”.

“In my opinion, approving the article related to depriving paper newspapers of advertising revenues issued by the Companies Control Department will not have a significant impact on print newspapers,” Maharmeh said, noting that there is not as large of a quantity of advertisements in print media as the statement implies.

“For several years, major print newspapers have not accepted these advertisements, so I think that the impact will be very limited,” he added.