Jordan Media Institute – Amman
More than 80% of Jordanian journalists rely on local televised political talk shows as a source of information, according to a study conducted by Amer al-Smadi, a master’s student in Journalism and New Media at the Jordan Media Institute (JMI).
The Institute held its third master’s thesis defense of the academic year with a discussion of al-Smadi study which dealt with the extent to which Jordanian journalists rely on televised political talk shows for political information that assists them in writing news, analyses, and articles on current events in. The study analyzed the viewing habits of 350 journalists - the study sample - vis-a-vis talk shows on local channels Roya and Al-Mamlaka.
During the discussion of his study and its conclusions, which took place on Thursday via video call, al-Smadi examined the degree of trust and assessment criteria among journalists who follow “Sawt AlMamlaka” and “Nabd AlBalad,” the two most-watched news programs in the final months of last year according to the study.
Al-Smadi demonstrated that journalists primarily rely on those programs to become acquainted with the perspectives and analyses of local politicians, stay informed about the most recent local and international political developments, and to convey facts, events, opinions, and statements surrounding political events. The study found that most individuals in the sample of journalists see a moderate degree of utility in the political content offered by talk shows on Roya and Al-Mamlaka.
Foremost among the study sample’s criteria for assessing the informativeness of such programs is their content, followed by the guest speaker, with more than 40% of the sample population finding the content to be “simple and appropriate for the audience.” Approximately a quarter of the sample view the two channels as providing realistic solutions to political issues in question.
JMI offers the master’s program in Journalism and New Media with the aim of developing media content by fostering advanced journalistic skills and ethics. Up to this point, it has graduated ten intakes of approximately 260 Jordanian and Arab students who, with their advanced qualifications, now play important roles in producing journalistic content at both the local and international levels.
Note that JMI is continuing to accept applications for enrollment in the MA program in Journalism and New Media for the 2020/20201 academic year, until July 2nd, 2020. For more information, please visit the Institute’s webpage (www.jmi.edu.jo) or call +96265713304.