The Minister of State for Media Affairs, the official spokesman for the government, Sakhr Dodin, announced that the government decided to remove the amended regulations from the Media Authority from the website of the Legislation and Opinion Bureau.

He said that the government decided to sit down with the Syndicate of Journalists to find appropriate solutions for all about these regulations.

However, the decision to “remove” the regulations from the Legislation and Opinion Bureau website also sparked a controversy in the media, describing it as “a circumvention of the sector’s demands, represented in withdrawing them and not removing them from the Legislation and Opinion Bureau’s website.”

The regulations submitted by the Media Authority to the government sparked great controversy, especially in the press community, who saw it as a response to public freedoms, freedom of the press and media, and a restriction on the work of websites.

As a result of these regulations, a meeting was held at the headquarters of the Journalists Syndicate in the capital, Amman, and the meeting declared their complete rejection of these regulations, as they will have serious repercussions on the media sector.

Representative Saleh Al-Armouti said that the removal of the new Media Authority regulations from the Legislation and Opinion Bureau website indicates two things, the first of which is responding to the opinions received about these regulations and referring them to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau for formulation and presentation to the Council of Ministers.

The other matter, according to the deputy, indicates the possibility that the government has dismissed the regulations set forth by the Media Commission.

Al-Armouti confirmed in a statement to Al-Bawsala that the rational and wise decision is to withdraw these regulations and not remove them from the site, as they have sparked great controversy in the Jordanian street, because of their repercussions on freedom of opinion and expression.

He called on the government to “withdraw the regulations”, because this indicates a lack of intransigence in decision-making, and a positive point – if it happened – and in response to the demands of public opinion.

The Coordination of Websites issued a statement expressing its astonishment at the government’s insistence not to withdraw the amendments to the media regulations and to adhere to the “endowment” formula, meaning that these regulations were not approved by the Council of Ministers until agreement with the press family on the controversial points, disregarding the demands of the press family that It was expressed by fellow journalists and website publishers at the expanded consultative meeting held last Wednesday at the Press Syndicate building.

The “Coordination” confirmed what colleagues said in the consultative meeting that these amendments came without compelling reasons for them, and that they were formulated without consultation with the press family, denouncing the government’s continued prevarication and circumvention of the demands of the press family.

The Acting Head of the Journalists Syndicate, Yanaal Al-Barmawi, confirmed that the “lifting” of the regulations came “in the interest of consulting with the Syndicate about them, and after efforts and negotiations for days to stop the regulations in coordination with the journalistic family.”

He said that he met the Minister of State for Media Affairs and the Director of the Media Authority on Tuesday, as part of the Syndicate of Journalists’ efforts to demand the suspension of the proposed amended regulations, pending consultation with the Syndicate and the press family.

He pointed out that “the regulations have been removed from the website of the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, as they were not approved by the government, but were presented to the website to take an opinion on them.”

(compass)