AMMAN, 3 January (IRIN) - Jordan's press syndicate and newspaper publishers have launched a campaign to lobby lawmakers to speed up ratification of a new press law scrapping provisions setting jail terms for journalists.
Independent politicians, media figures and newspaper editors began lobbying lawmakers this week to give priority in the new parliamentary session to approving an amendment, proposed last year, to the current law governing so-called press offenses.
Tareq Moumani, head of the Jordanian Press Association, said he was "hopeful" for the amendment's prospects after meeting with senior lawmakers, who pledged to speed parliamentary ratification of the change.
Advocates of the draft amendment say it will represent a milestone for press freedom by repealing an article that currently permits the jailing of journalists for up to three months for writing articles deemed "offensive or harmful" to the state.
Current legislation allows journalists to be imprisoned for a number of loosely defined offences, which include offending the king and royal family, showing contempt for religion or damaging national unity.
Critics say the authorities have used press and publications laws to imprison journalists for dissident political views.
Over the years, the government has made several amendments to a tough 1993 press law, which has been amended four times since its inception. The law, say its detractors, has tightened restrictions on reporting and placed crippling fines on perceived offenders.
Critics point out that the fear of heavy fines, along with the intimidation of journalists, has served to create an atmosphere of self censorship.
Editors of weekly papers complain that the government has used the press law to place greater restrictions on their coverage, which, unlike in government dailies, is often devoted to cases of political corruption and popular discontent with Jordanian foreign policy.
Most independent journalists agree that the proposed amendment would represent a step forward. Nevertheless, many add that further legislative changes are needed to prevent reporters from being punished under other articles in the penal code.
"The draft law is better than what currently exists, but only with an overhaul of other laws can media freedoms in Jordan really make headway," said Nidal Mansour, head of the privately-funded Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists and publisher of the weekly Al-Hadath.
Mansour went on to call for curbs on the wide-ranging powers of the Press and Publications Bureau, a government censorship board, over publications-licensing and censorship issues.
Currently, Jordan's five dailies, and scores of weeklies, fall under the bureau's authority.
