Movement builds in Jordan to reverse media censorship
Yesterday, just three days after the Jordanian government moved to
block around 300 websites, leaders of media sites met with
members of Parliament to urge amendment of the Kingdom's
controversial Press and Publication law.
Following protests outside the Jordan Press Association on Tuesday
and demonstrations yesterday outside Parliament, Daoud Kuttab,
founder of AmmanNet, along
with others, including Basel Okour, the founder and chief editor of
Jo24 and managing editor of
Ammonnews,
went to speak with several members of Parliament, who were “very
supportive of our position, and very upset with the implementation
of the law,” says Kuttab.
After AmmanNet, which has been reporting local news since 2000, was
blocked on Sunday, Kuttab took to his blog to express a
sentiment common to Jordan’s tech and media community: “[the
censorship] is a violation of Jordan’s constitution, which
guarantees freedom of expression, Jordan’s commitment to
international conventions and a reneging on the promises made by
the Jordanian Prime Minister to Jordanian media and in his address
to the IPI congress.”
When the policy was first signed into law last September, the tech
community revolted, staging protests and a
SOPA-style internet blackout that mostly met with silence.
At the time, a sympathetic Ministry of ICT offered a “letter of
intent” indicating that tech initiatives would not be censored;
several parties also
pushed for a "Memorandum of Clarification” that would guarantee
legal protection to the tech community.
While they’re still waiting for that Memorandum, a new movement is
building to overturn the law, urged by outspoken figures like
Kuttab, and taking shape in Parliament. Reports note that 50 members
of Jordan’s 150 members of the House of Representatives have called
upon the government to delay implementation of the law, while 82
have signed a petition to fully amend it to protect freedom of
expression in the Hashemite Kingdom.
Why now?
The move comes just days after Jordan hosted the International
Press Institute’s World Congress on May 19-21 and the World
Economic Forum on May 24-26. Censorship continued throughout the
Arab Advisors Group’s 10th
Convergence Summit on June 3rd and 4th,
which addressed broadcast and online media strategy, social media,
and the rise of smartphone penetration. As censorship contradicts
much of the country's recent rhetoric about freedom and innovation
at these conferences, silence on the topic has reigned.
“Censorship wasn’t really discussed in the sessions,” says Hazem
Zureiqat, founder of Sowt, a social network driven by short audio
posts. When Basem Aggad, a co-founder of Amman Tech Tuesdays, asked a
telecom-focused panel about the contradiction between recent initiatives and the censorship,
panelists rebuffed him. “I’m just implementing the law,” Zureiqat
recalls one telecom regulator answering. (listen to the question on
Sowt here).
One potential reason for implementing the censorship, Kuttab
suggests, is to curb online discussion following the government’s
plan to
raise electricity fees, potentially before the end of June, as
part of its agreement with the IFC. The impending fees have already
caused unheaval and protests in the south, he notes.
Is the law effective?
What’s most concerning about the law is that it’s arbitrary, says Abed Shamlawi, CEO of the Information and Communications Association of Jordan (int@j).
“The law has no criteria,” he says several times. “What’s a news
website and what’s not is not well-defined. Some of the websites
that were blocked were not Jordanian but were based in Jordan, or
were posting news in general and not necessarily about Jordan.”
As both he and Zureiqat point out, the law could even be used to
block Google or Yahoo! News, as it seems to apply to any site
mentioning Jordan.
What’s more, there’s little oversight for the process. “It's left
to the discretion of the director of the Press and Publications
Department; the law gives the right to censor to one single
person,” says Shamlawi.
One of the
law’s primary stipulations is that any journalist writing in
Jordan must “refrain from publishing whatever material bound to
stir violence of inflame discord of any form among the citizens.”
This includes comments that others post on the site.
However, the reason most of these sites were blocked, says
Shamlawi, is simply that they were not registered. Yet, he says,
“no one was legally or directly notified that they had to
register.”
Most sites have been unblocked since the initial censorship, after
conferring with the department and clarifying that they are not a
news site, or have now registered, he says. Others are operating
under slightly modified URLs, or directing readers to their
Facebook pages.
Will censorship harm the startup culture in Jordan?
As the overwhelming majority of media and tech figures
point out, the censorship is ineffective and easily circumvented.
Shortly after the blocking, a site at uncensorjo.org went live, offering
access to Al Bawaba, Jo24, AmmanNet, and Aramram.
While many say that censorship is tarnishing Jordan’s image as
it tries to become the “Silicon Valley of the Middle East,” it
seems that access on the ground isn't affected.
“If Jordan wants to be a leading country in information technology
sector, then this law is damaging,” says Ibrahim Owais, the Senior
New Media Designer at local digital agency Syntax. (Disclosure: I
used to work at Syntax). “But, on the other hand, you cannot
control the internet. With the rise of social media and people
using the internet to express their opinions more freely than
before, I don’t think anything can stop them from reaching the
right news.”
Fadi Ghandour, Founder and Vice Chairman at Aramex and Chairman of
the Board at Wamda, agrees. “As I have always stated, censorship
does not work. If there is a problem with news sites that publish
false information and defame people, then the answer is in
strengthening the law and toughening the punishment, not
censorship.”
The real threat
One of the most threatening elements of the law, however, is not
its restriction of access, but its restrictions on media
site founders.
Any Editor-in-Chief, the law says, must have been registered at the
Jordan Press Association (JPA) for at least four years. (For more
on the restrictions on editors, click here to see the
infographic created by the Jordan Open Source
Society) This Editor, for one, wouldn’t be able to run Wamda
from Jordan.
What's more, editors of online publications are not allowed to join
the JPA directly, according to the Press Union laws, says Basel
Okour of Jo24: "The law of the union makes it very complicated and
difficult to join. Those who only work on websites are not allowed
to be a member of the union." All of the current JPA members began
their career at a traditional publication, and then went on to
launch websites, he explains.
If that element of the press and publications law is implemented to
the letter, it could effectively kill the creation of any startup
that publishes content (name an online startup that doesn’t). "The
government is trying to kill independent new media," says
Okour.
Will it scare off investment and startup creation? “If the law
continues to be unclear, and if there is no Memorandum of
Clarification or explanation, then yes, this could harm the
sector,” says int@j’s Shamlawi.
“This could actually hinder people from being innovative or starting up a company,” Zureiqat agrees. “Does someone who wants to start a small site in his or her town and publish local news, have to hire someone with four years of experience?”
The photo above was taken by Hussam Da’ana for 7iber. For more
photos of
Tuesday’s protests at the Jordan Press Association and
Wednesday’s protests at Parliament, head to
7iber.com.