Jordan Media Institute - Amman
The Jordan Media Institute (JMI) and the Jordan Bar Association (JBA) signed, on Tuesday, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support national efforts to promote Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in Jordan.
JMI has signed similar MoUs with eight other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as part of a project, supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to battle misinformation and promote rights and freedoms in Jordan through MIL.
The institute is also developing a manual to be used by the participating organizations to promote MIL in their programs and activities and build the skills of their target groups who include youth, women, and children.
JMI Acting Dean, Prof. Abdel Hakim Alhusbani, expressed appreciation for the partnerships with the JBA and the other organizations which support freedoms and human rights, creativity, culture, and performing arts. He stressed the importance of engaging different sectors of society and empowering them with critical thinking skills that enable them to verify and ethically consume information, in addition to creating content that promotes freedoms and eschews hate speech, racism, and misinformation.
For his part, JBA President, Mazen Irsheidat, commended JMI for engaging the JBA and other CSOs, and for its MIL expertise. He noted that the agreement constitutes a step towards raising awareness on responsible and safe ways to use social media platforms and on highlighting the threats they pose. He stressed the importance of encouraging people to respect the law and adopt proper discourse online.
The institute had signed MoUs with eight other organizations. They include the Jordanian Writers Association, the National Center for Culture and Arts, Sisterhood is Global Institute Jordan (SIGI), Al-Qantara Center for Human Development in Ma'an, Creativity Club in Karak, Bait AlAnbat in Wadi Musa, Rafd For development and Training in Mafraq, and Wadaq Society for Dramatic Arts and Media and Cultural Studies in Irbid.