JMI – Jordan
A second group of new young journalists from various governorates have recently completed six days of training at the Jordan Media Institute (JMI), which involved skills and fundamentals of developing professional media products that address issues of local communities and avoidance of legal and professional violations.
The training is a continuation of a series of training programs being implemented by JMI with the local community and is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The training targets a new generation of young journalists, to enhance their belief in freedom of opinion and expression, and the influence of “the written and spoken word” in creating public opinion and societal culture in general.
Fifteen young men and women who have recently become active in the field of media and journalism participated in the training. These trainees cover events and issues of concern to their communities in their governorates.
The specialist media trainers presented numerous interactive exercises to uncover the tendencies of the trainees and enable them to utilize journalistic tools to convey peoples’ voices. Simultaneously, the exercises consolidated the value of freedom of expression as a basic right, journalists should both enjoy and work to preserve, in a responsible manner serving society and respecting the dignity of its members.
JMI Professor of Media Law and Ethics, Dr. Sakher Al Khasawneh, trained the students to develop their capacity in addressing legal material related to their work as reporters. He clarified the constitutional rules which ensure the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the resultant legislation regulating journalism, such as the penal laws, the press and publications law, the cyber-crimes law and others. Al Khasawneh stated that “the youth are inquiring passionately about the law and how the judiciary addresses real cases. Accordingly, examples were presented to them, which simplify the rigid legal texts and make these more understandable.”
Within the same context, trainees learned how to distinguish between a realistic description of the status quo in the news and the predetermined impressions published by social media users. Also, with trainer Bayan Altal, they engaged in the most significant media literacy concepts. These are related to a pioneering national project that JMI is executing at various educational levels, along with the relevant governmental agencies and civil society.
A number of female trainees commented on the daily training sessions, stating that learning about the law, the limitations of privacy, criticism and public figures, and the penalties on defamation and insult and the difference between the two, created a better understanding of the exercises that followed. Said exercises addressed the concept of hate speech and methods to avoid it while producing journalistic content. Managing Editor Taha Darwish of the AKEED Monitor, who specializes in the tracking and analysis of rumors, incorrect news and news items that violate the standards of professional journalism throughout the Arab world, discussed the negative impact of “hate” on journalistic content.
Darwish explained that legal and ethical concepts are violated dozens of times on a daily basis by media outlets globally and that the task of the “new generation” of reporters is to “spread love and exclude hatred” since hate is a major transgression against the noble mission of journalists.