Al Destour
Today we had our last quiz in Arab Histories and then we went to the office of the newspaper Al Destour, The Constitution, where we met we had a tour and met with the editor-in-chief, Usama Al Shareef, about journalism in the Middle East and particularly journalistic freedom in Jordan. Because it is illegal here to crisizie the King and to make remarks that “are a danger to national security,” the press is often limited in what and how much it can say. Shareef said that there are no specific guidlines in Jordan for what you can and cannot say and that the days of having a government censurer in newspaper offices are over. Today, there is relatively more freedom, but it is more difficult to know what you can and cannot write. Journalists here have gone to jail for what they wrote and newspapers can be closed down for days or months at a time if the government becomes to angry with their writing. In terms of Arab countries, Shareef said Lebanon had the freest press, and I would guess Saudi Arabia has the most restrictive. We got a copy of an English paper also published by The Constution; here is a link to its online version, which has wonderful articles that are full of cricisms of Bush and US foriegn policy. http://www.star.com.jo/default/default.aspx
Tags: Amman, Jordan
Katelyn
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