Future of electronic media in Jordan is at stake

By Hani Hazaimeh




AMMAN - Electronic media editors and activists on Thursday said the recent Cassation Court's decision to subject news websites and electronic media to the Press and Publications Law will curb Internet freedom.

Meanwhile, the government said that a team of legal consultants is currently drawing up guidelines to address the issue of electronic media, which will be announced soon, especially in light of the latest developments.

"The court's decision has set a precedent and must be respected,” Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Nabil Sharif told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

He said that as the decision requires all parties to “live up to their responsibilities and the government in that regard will do its part," adding that the Jordanian judiciary acts independently from any influence from outside parties.

The minister noted that once the mechanism is worked out, he will discuss it with the minister of justice and other senior officials in the public media sector in order to be endorsed by the government through proper channels. read full story here.

Domestic helpers are treated like animals

By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - When Ishara Hemanthi arrived in Jordan in November 2008, she hoped that she’d be able to save enough money to help her family in Sri Lanka. But in less than four months, her dreams turned into a nightmare when her employers started to abuse her physically.

She told her story as authorities were mulling tougher measures against abusing employers, including a ban on any future recruitment of domestic helpers.

Despite enduring the daily beatings, the 23-year-old Sri Lankan worker refused to give up hope that life would improve when she became more accustomed to her employer's habits and customs. But the situation only got worse and on Monday Hemanthi ended up in the emergency room with severe bruising and swelling all over her body.

Speaking to The Jordan Times yesterday, the Sri Lankan, who eventually made it to her country’s embassy in search of help and was later taken to hospital, said: "At first they were very nice to me, although they didn't pay the salary that we had agreed upon in the work contract. Four months later, however, things started to change and I have not been paid my salary for the past eight months."

According to the work contract, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times, Hemanthi's monthly salary was meant to be $175 but she claimed that her employer paid her only $100 for the first four months of her work....click here to read the whole story.

What is the difference between a blog and a news website?

Do you think a blog is a legitimate news website? what make a blog reliable? To how much extent do you think bloggers can be free in their writings?

MinnPost

Indeed a good website that is trying to keep open channels with its readers. The website is very transparent and open in terms of publishing the names of the donors on the home page, since its a non-profit media outlet, thus raising its credibilty.

This gives the people responsible of the website more independence and freedom in the website's policy making, thus more accurate and fair in the news posted.

Al Arabiya.net

For many news outlets, namely in the middle east its is considered a reliable news source for building up a story, however, in personal opinion, most of its news coverage is based on international news agencies. This makes the news posted on this website more credible. Having said, the media outlet is trying to commit to certain terminology in Arabic like in using the word "martyr" in referring to Palestinian causalities outrageous enough as far as much of the public Arab opinion is concerned.

Since it was created in 2004, following the US and the allied troops on Iraq, the Saudi-owned agency sought to focus in Arab-related news through comprehensive coverage and analytical articles written in the first place by Arab columnists, who are in many cases taking sides. As a journalist I would take from this website news and writer my own story supported with facts away from plagiarism. Away from that, the website is indeed contains a diversity of news ranging from political, cultural and social to lifestyle and arts.

By large, financial independence give any news website credibility and reliability.

CNN.com

Remains one of the most accepted and impartial sources of news building on a long history of the corporation as professional news provider. The fact that the organization has various outlets that speak in different languages has made it closer to the minds and hearts of the average man in the street vis-à-vis other counterparts. I think it’s a highly professional in breaking the news in full coverage, follow up on stories and in depth analysis.

Its enormous access to covering various events taking place across the globe, and quick reporting of news makes it a good source for reporters to be in constant update of actions soon after they take place.

Favouritism (Wasta), another name for corruption

An overwhelming majority of Jordanians believe that despite government efforts to curb corruption, favouritism (wasta) is still ubiquitous in Jordanian society, according to a study issued recently by the Jordan Transparency Forum (JTF).

The study was conducted through phone and face-to-face interviews with a sample of 900 citizens representing ministries, public institutions, the private sector and the education sector, JTF President Bassem Sakkijha told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

According to the study, which comes a decade after a similar one conducted by the same organisation in 1999 and revealed in 2000, around 81.3 per cent of the sample agreed that "wasta" is highly prevalent in Jordan, compared to 87 per cent in the previous survey, while 91.3 per cent said they were not aware of a paragraph recently added to the Anti–Corruption Law that considers favouritism a type of corruption and calls for combating it.

In its findings, the study attributed wasta’s commonness in the Kingdom to "backward" administrative behaviour in both public and private institutions, “corruption, tribal influence and the absence of democracy”.

The survey indicated that although it is not widely accepted, many Jordanians resort to using wasta in many situations, such as when applying for a job or obtaining needed documents from a public or private institution, Sakkijha explained.

"A vast majority of the randomly surveyed individuals agreed on the importance of addressing wasta, but said sometimes it is necessary, considering widespread practices in the private and the public sectors," said the study, which was prepared to coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day on December 9.

Moreover, 87 per cent of those surveyed said they believe that wasta will continue to exist in the future, despite government measures, compared to 93.04 per cent who said the same in the previous study.

A Trip To The Unknown

MALTA -When Beza, a 21-year old Ethiopian, was picked up by the Maltese coast guards some 13 months ago, she thought her terrifying five-days on the Mediterranean in a small boat were over and that she finally made it to Italy.Beza and her boyfriend, Samuel, were part of a group of 30 African migrants who left their families and loved ones behind, escaping poverty and war in a bid to find new jobs and a better life.They paid an Ethiopian people-smuggler more than a thousand dollars to get them out of Ethiopia through Sudan and all the way to Libya. Their arduous journey began by with them hiding for six days in a truck carrying goats that was heading to Sudan.The high prices charged by people-smugglers reflect the growing difficulty, as well as the relative risk and miseries migrants endure during their treacherous journey to the unknown.“I also paid 1200 euros more to a Libyan smuggler who promised to take us to Italy,” Beza said. But unfortunately, she was caught by the Libyan police where she was imprisoned for two months.A year later, she managed to raise another 1,000 euros and was determined to try her luck again.This time she succeeded but the leaking boat she and her boyfriend were in, along with 28 other East African migrants, was picked up by the Maltese coast guards five days after they had left Libyan shores.At the beginning they were all taken to Malta's largest detention centre. Biza stayed six months before she was transferred to an open centre after she became pregnant.Every year hundreds of illegal migrants are picked up by the Maltese coast guards vessels. Since the beginning of this year the more than 1,500 migrants arrived to the EU's smallest and most crowded member, 600 more than during the same period last year. In 2007 the number stood at 1,702.According to the Maltese officials, most of the migrants come from the Horn of Africa, from countries lacking stability and security such as Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Almost every overloaded boat comes from one destination, Libya. Many die onboard before reaching safety.One of the main challenges facing the Maltese government, besides providing these migrants with adequate shelter and medical care, is identifying their nationalities. Many get rid of their papers and documents before they make it to the Maltese shores in order to slow down repatriation procedures, many others may simply not have any papers to begin with."Almost all migrants who are brought by the marine vessels are without any identification, making it even more difficult for us to repatriate them to their homelands," Assistant Commissioner of Police Andrew Seychell said.Salah Faraj, 34, didn’t have identification papers when he came to Malta from Libya in 2005; he claims that he is a Palestinian.Although his accent sounds Libyan, Faraj says that he left Palestine in 1984 at the age of 14 years to Egypt.“The Egyptians did not give me any identifications and I had to go to Libya and stayed there for 17 years,” Faraj said adding that he decided to migrate to Europe after life in Libya became unbearable. This is his third year in Malta and he is still in one of Malta’s five open centres. He was kept in the closed Safi Detention Centre for 18 months before he was released.Faraj refuses to go back to Libya and is asking the Maltese authorities to send him back to Palestine. But the Maltese authorities say they can’t without the appropriate papers.Maareq Gazai’s case, a 34-year-old Eritrean, is similar.A former military serviceman he arrived in Malta in July after a UN vessel picked their may-day call and brought them to Malta.He spent months in a harsh camp in Libya, suffered a terrifying voyage across the Mediterranean, and feared he would drown in the fishing boat carrying him and 94 others to the EU. Is it worth the risk? The father of four says its is.“There is no future in my country. We have an endless war fronts with our four neighbouring countries,” he said with a shy smile on his face.Since he left Libya he did not have any contact with his family. And when he was asked for the reason he turned his face and started crying.As a soldier serving on the border with Sudan, Gazai did not have to bribe anyone to leave Eritrea. But he paid several hundreds of dollars for the journey from Sudan to Libya and later to Italy.But he ended up locked in a detention centre in Malta and not knowing what is going to happen next.“I thought this country was Italy. I don’t want to stay here I want to go to Italy,” he said.Lt. Col Brian Gatt, commander of Maltese Detention Services said Malta is trying their best to provide humane services to irregular immigrants until such time that they are granted freedom of movement.Immigrants are kept in closed detention centres upon their arrival for up to 12 months before they receive a response regarding their status.The Maltese government provides them with accommodation, food, clothing, access to medical care and to the commissioner for refugees. They also help with access to NGOs and means of contacting home or country representative should there be one on island. Conditions inside the closed camps are spartan, but, says the Maltese government, it’s the best the can do.Vulnerable cases like lone children, families, Pregnant women or the elderly are quickly released on obtaining medical clearance.Malta is currently hosting some 2000 illegal migrants per year, each costing around €30 - €40 a day to house. Malta also has the added cost of patrolling a huge area of the Mediterranean, around 250,000 square kilometres.But although widely recognised as struggling to cope with its immigrant burden Malta hasn’t escaped criticism.In its 2007 Report, the Amnesty International said conditions in Maltese administrative detention centres failed to meet legally binding international standards. The EU Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs has also not pulled any punches. A delegation of the Committee last year found that the Hal-Safi detention centre "was like a cage", without sheets on the beds, broken and dirty mattresses, and no heating or cooling systems. Hygiene conditions were intolerable, with broken showers, and toilets without doors and in a state of disrepair.The Maltese government says that they do their best to sustain the hygiene conditions inside the detentions centres but the inmates keep destroying these facilities.Malta is facing very serious problems and needs all the help it can get from other EU countries to address the issue of illegal immigration, says Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici."We need practical suggestions and assistance rather than non-constructive criticism."In July Mufsid Bonnicci signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Medicins Sans Frontier (MSF) to provide illegal migrants during their eighteen-month stay in detention centres with medical care.Despite the fact that Malta has striven to address this challenge in the best way possible, there is a lot to be done especially when it comes to the integration of those refugees in the local community, he added.Although the number of refugees coming in boats that are intercepted by the Maltese coats guard seems small, Malta is one of the densest populated countries on earth and has limited resources.People on the island are getting increasingly worried about being on the EU’s frontline and calls for other EU countries to share the burden of dealing with Malta’s immigration are growing louder by the day.