In compliance with Jordanian commitments to the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a delegation of the Media Commission met with colleagues at the Community Media Network with the aim of agreeing on joint activities to improve media freedoms.

Mohammad Qtaishat the director of the Media Commission said that the cooperation with civil society and with media practitioners will enrich the discussion. “We hope that these joint activities will provide us with ideas as to the best way forward to improve the media scene in Jordan because our joint goal with civil society and media practitioners is the same.”

Daoud Kuttab director general of the Community Media Network said he was happy to see such serious and genuine cooperation with the Media Commission. “We consider the visit of the delegation from the Media Commission and their cooperation a clear signal as to their commitments to solidifying the role of the media.”

The third commitment to the Open Government Partnership under the heading: improving the regulation of the media calls for “seeking recommendations and ideas from different sources as to the best way to improve the media scene in Jordan.” The Media Commission and the Community Media Network have agreed to commission a number of experts to prepare a set of the recommendations that they believe should be given priority in this field.

The media regulator and the NGO will produce and publish the recommendations and will seek feedback to them which will help provide agreed to recommendations to the government.

The meeting included radio al Balad director Etaf Roudan, and the editor in chief Mohamad Ersan while from the Media Commission it included the head of licensing Majd Al Amad and the legal advisor to the commission Nancy Khasawneh.

Jordan is the first Arab country to join the OGP in 2011 and the government of Jordan has presented so far three action plans the latest of which includes ten voluntary commitments that the government has agreed to. The media commitment includes three indicators including the creation of a national framework that includes all parties connected to the media, to collect recommendations to improve the media and to set up a mechanism to allow the public to respond to them.