News reporting standards in Jordan

I am really interested to hear other opinions on news reporting standards (or lack of) in Jordan, especially online media. Here are some of my observations:

1. Photos not related to the story
2. Photo captions are misleading, irrelevant, and inaccurate
3. You see people receiving certificates, holding meetings, etc but few names are provided
4. Inaccurate translation to English
5. Story talks about launching a new web site for example but the link is not provided
6. No references to sources of information and mixing original contributions with copied material from other news media
7. Poor taste

Here are a couple of examples of photos that perhaps should not have made the Petra web page which is the Official News agency in Jordan (photos copied from www.petra.gov.jo):

This photo was part of a series on a news story last summer on a sit-in by citizens unhappy with new broadcast restrictions on world soccor games. Should a picture like this appear on Jordan's official news agency's web site??? I am also curious, was the man on the ground asked for permission to broadcast his picture to the whole world basically?

The picture above has the caption of: "Saudi Monarch Arrives in Amman" but all you see if this poor animal been slaughtered under the curious phone cameras of the crowd. Gross! At the very least there should be an explanation for what is being photographed.

New vision for Amman

I love what the Great Amman Municipality (GAM) is doing with the Amman Master Plan. Today they announced the second phase of the plan which targets concentrated (or high-density) development. I quickly skimmed the material developed for this phase and I like what I see. The photo below shows the proposed vision for Zahran Street for example—which looks much more attractive than the random development which currently plagues the capitol (photo from GAM web site).

High-density and mixed use developments can greatly enhance Amman. In addition to providing for an organized and harmonious development, this style of development can support cost-effective housing, reduced dependence on the private car (and hence less traffic), well-connected communities, and cleaner environment. Here is a picture I took in Washington, DC last spring which shows an example of the Victorian high-density urban development style.

Amman has grown in a hap-hazardous fashion, with much intense growth since 2001. The Master Plan is a much needed and way overdue effort for at least regulating future growth. Since much growth has taken place so far without proper planning, the process of retro-fitting existing developed areas into the new vision for the city will be very difficult and painful. Needless to say, it will also be very political because of potential resistance from property owners and traditional political powers.

The GAM has attempted to make this plan development open to participation from various organizations and citizen groups. However, it is the responsibility of these entities to engage the GAM in this critical planning process—after all they will be the ones directly impacted by its outcomes. It is our collective responsibility to support the GAM in accomplishing a vision that will make Ammanites and Jordanians proud of Amman.

Iraq's problems finaly solved (NOT)

It took only 4 years for the world to realize there is an Iraqi refugee problem. Therefore, the U.S. is acting generously and swiftly to shoulder some of the responsibilities toward Iraq by increasing the number of Iraqis eligible to enter the U.S to around 7,000. Thank God! (no it is not a typo...there are only 3 zeros after the seven). Meanwhile, Jordan has absorbed close to a million Iraqis (depending on the source the number varies).

Read the article on MSNBC.