<strong>15 May 2018 </strong><br /> <br /> Amman- The Jordan Media Institute (JMI), in collaboration with the Higher Population Council (HPC), launched the National Strategy on Population Media (2018-2022) to become the first national strategy in the domain of population media. The strategy contains the organized and planned efforts that guide public and private Jordanian media to provide information, raise the level of knowledge and awareness in the field of population, and influence the attitudes and behaviors of the Jordanian public.<br /> <br /> The strategy, which was prepared by the JMI, also aims at providing information for public policy-makers to serve the goals of the population policy of the Jordanian state in line with the requirements of sustainable economic and social development and improve the quality of life of Jordanian citizens.<br /> <br /> Dr. Mohammed Momani, minister of state for media affairs, who sponsored the launch of the strategy, delivered a speech, in which he said that "the importance of launching the strategy emanates from the central role of the media in population policies and issues, especially in providing accurate information, disseminating awareness, and creating the right environment for solving problems and issues that have a developmental dimension." He pointed out that accurate population statistics are a basis for developing policies and decisions.<br /> <br /> Momani noted that having media people who are specialized in population media "will contribute to an accurate understanding of population policies and issues. This also strengthens the possibility of raising numerous issues linked to them professionally and objectively, thus serving national population goals and reflecting positively on our social, economic, and developmental situation."<br /> <br /> JMI Dean Dr. Basim Tweissi pointed out that "the strategy is the culmination of joint national efforts, which aim at improving the quality of performance and media content of population issues. This will create national awareness conducive to national development priorities and population policy. The importance of such a strategy increases with the general awareness of the decline of the role of the media in supporting population policies."<br /> <br /> Tweissi noted that "the demographic window, which Jordan will have soon, could turn from an opportunity into a curse if it is not handled efficiently. Amid national preparations for the demographic window, regional upheavals have led to a large increase in the population, thus causing further complications."<br /> <br /> On the design of the strategy and expectations from it, Tweissi said that "it includes an analysis of the current reality and identifies the goals, objectives, scope of action, and strategic trends that reflect the philosophy of the demographic window. It also identifies the roles of the organizations supporting population media and develops a matrix of media messages according to the targeted area and media channels and outlets."<br /> <br /> The JMI dean spoke in detail about the substance of the strategy, including the methodology of the structure, general principles, analysis of the current situation of the population, assessment of the performance of population media, analysis of the internal and external environment of population media, the trends of the strategy for 2018-2022, and the goals of population media.<br /> <br /> Dr. Tweissi presented the strategic trends and priorities, which include building media capacities specialized in population media; updated population information that is made available to media people; developing the role of the media in disseminating population awareness; creating a legislative, political, and institutional environment that supports population issues; and activating this role in changing the attitudes of individuals and society toward population issues.<br /> <br /> Maysoon Zoubi, secretary general of the HPC, said that giving media people access to information is the first mission to bring about the required change in attitudes and behaviors that support population issues. She noted that providing this information would enable media people, specialists, and decision-makers to communicate their messages professionally, away from speculation and assumption.<br /> <br /> Zoubi said that the HPC has for several years been preparing a media group specialized in population media. They managed to select the most suitable journalistic form to deliver their messages to the target group in a clear manner that serves population issues and all that is related to patterns of positive behavior. This supports everything related to the population in the plans of the state.<br /> <br /> A short movie explained the strategy in the form of data and infographics. It showed that the main outputs of the strategy are summed up in the creation of a main bloc of journalists and media people who are specialized in population media, providing updated sectoral demographic databases, and increasing media content and visibility in handling population issues.<br /> <br /> The strategy was prepared in collaboration with Tawasol Project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the JMI, and the HPC.