AMMAN, 2 March 2004 — The Jordanian Parliament has voted down a law adopted by the former government in 2001 to set up a higher media council, which had the full backing of King Abdallah, the press reported yesterday.
Thirty-five out of 66 deputies present at a lower house debate Sunday voted against the council, whose creation led to the scrapping of the Information Ministry late last year as part of social, political and economic reforms.
Conservative MP Karim Dughami who initiated the vote argued that the creation of higher media council and other “independent public entities” would strip the government from its ability to supervise its work, the press said.
Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez, who has headed a new government since October that does not include an Information Ministry, tried to win support for the council by promising to introduce a law that would allow the government to oversee the budgets of all independent public institution. But his words fell on deaf ears as independent, Islamist and liberal MPs from the lower house rallied around Dughami in voting down the council and calling for the re-establishment of the Information Ministry.
In line with the Constitution, the lower house decision will be submitted to the Senate, a 55-member body appointed by the king, which can either adopt it or reject it.
Should the Senate reject the vote, the lower house will convene again to reconsider its decision. King Abdallah appointed a former information minister, Ibrahim Ezzedin, to head the 11-member council in December 2002, replacing Kamel Abu Jaber who had resigned from the post.
In a decree appointing Ezzedin, the king insisted that the council should be “consultative” body working hand in the hand with the government to develop a modern approach to state information based on pluralism and freedom of opinion. Council members were hand picked by the king from among media experts, including many who had served on the first short-lived council board.
