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06 Nov 2016
The Jordan Media Institute (JMI) issued the third monitoring report of media coverage of the parliamentary elections, which covers the period between 18 September and 29 September. <br />
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This period includes the election silence day, polling day, and announcement of results. The monitoring is implemented in cooperation with an FHI project, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The report depended on monitoring 20 media outlets, representing the printed and electronic press, radio stations, and TV channels. The report confirmed the clear violation by media outlets of the election silence day, noting that most media outlets violated Paragraph A of Article 20 of the Election Law of 2015. It noted that the media violated Article 3 of Executive Instructions No. 7 of 2016 on rules of election campaigns, issued by the Independent Election Commission.<br />
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The report said that although there is a clear legal stipulation in the Election Law that penalizes any person who does not abide by the law, the monitors noticed that the relevant official entities did not lodge any complaint with the judiciary against any media outlet that violated the election silence day. <br />
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The report said that the incident involving 10 ballot boxes in the central Bedouin region attracted significant media attention. This has affected the interest of the media in the results of the elections as they focused on the boxes for days. <br />
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The report said that the media published 5,071 items, including 3,636 news items and 1,435 opinion pieces. The printed press was ahead of other media in terms of the number of media items, including news and opinion pieces. The printed press published 54.11% of the total number of media items that were monitored. The report added that TV channels came second in terms of the total number of media items, which numbered 809. Radio stations came third, while the electronic press came fourth. <br />