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AMMAN — There are no specialised journalists or reporters in the fields of environment and tourism in Aqaba, as local media outlets send a correspondent to cover everything in the port city regardless of his or her speciality, according to a study released Sunday.
The study, conducted by the Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan (JREDS), also revealed a lack of media outlets specialised in environment and tourism in Aqaba, some 330km south of Amman.
The report is part of the "Integrated Management of Coastal Zones: An Approach for Development and Growth" project, funded by USAID's FHI360 to support civil society projects.
The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) is interested in environment and tourism issues as it has directorates for both, JREDS Executive Director Faisal Abu Sondos told reporters.
Ehab Eid, JREDS programme director, said the study suggests solutions to improve media coverage of environment and tourism issues in Aqaba, adding that journalists say there is a lack of available information in these fields and that ASEZA officials do not cooperate with the press.
The study calls for offering training courses targeting media correspondents in Aqaba on covering environment and tourism.
It also suggests creating a diploma at universities to train a new generation of media professionals specialised in these fields, and organising workshops where specialists in environment journalism train journalists in Aqaba.
Project Coordinator and Director of JREDS Awareness Programmes Ebtihal Al Tarawneh said a survey was conducted to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of media in covering environmental issues in Aqaba.
The journalists who responded to the questionnaire said they believe in the importance of covering environmental issues and linking them with tourism in Aqaba.
But the survey revealed a lack of coordination between reporters covering the environment beat and correspondents from their media outlets in Aqaba.
Despite being few and far between, media programmes aimed at raising public awareness have had a positive impact, according to the study, a copy of which was sent to The Jordan Times.
The study also revealed weaknesses in media outlets' ability to identify "hot issues" related to the environment and how to present them to their audience.
JREDS is a nonprofit organisation dedicated to preserving and protecting the marine ecosystem.