Arab Summits: What a Joke.

If the final statement is already out, what is the point of meeting?

Jordanian Media Continues with its Failed Journalism

There is a new enemy weaving a conspiracy against Jordan and Jordanians. M. H. Heikal is the new target for many Jordanian "journalists" in their quest of "informing," "analyzing," and giving their "opinion" of happenings in and out of Jordan. To put it bluntly, most Jordanian lost their credibility a while ago by sidestepping simple and very much needed basics of reporting.

To write a credible news story one must be able to back up the claims put forward. It doesn't differ much from a student writing a research paper, where quotes must be referenced, the opposing argument given a chance, and for sources where further readings could be found.

The current "who can write the most and be more righteous" competition in Jordanian media against Heikal (Alrai, Al Dustour, Al Dustour, Alrai, Alghad,...) produced numerous opposing accounts in dailies and news sites. The attack on Heikal followed the usual Jordanian, or rather Arab, journalism techniques of nullifying all and every bit of information Heikal said and announcing the usual support to the Royal family.

I personally didn't see the program. I would have had a better idea of its content, however, had Jordanian journalist presented a balanced counter-argument to what Heikal had to say. I would have, as well, given more credibility to Jordanian quasi-government controlled media/journalists had they given their audience the chance to read a transcript or to link to a podcast of the show.

Now that I heard a big part of it and read the report linked to below, I can say that there wasn't anything new or major in what Heikal said. He actually praised King Hussein.

You can Listen to most of the program here and read a report of it here. (Finally found it after writing the post, I will update this post if needed)

A German Study Telling Jordanians to Lay Off Wasta

"The impact of favouritism on the business climate: a study on Wasta in Jordan" a study done by the German Development Institute and published in 2007.

The study’s recommendations are addressed first of all to the Jordanian government and to businesspeople and others in Jordan who have the power to contribute to the fight against favouritism in their country. In addition, the findings of this project may be of interest for foreign donors who are willing to support Jordanian initiatives against the use of favouritism as well as, of course, for academics.

The Arab world is a particularly instructive example of the consequences of a lack of transparency. Rulers there enjoy immense discretionary powers. They favour clients and cronies in many ways by their political, bureaucratic and judicial decisions. As a consequence, the fulfillment of formal rights depends to a large extent on the ability to carry favour with decision- makers.

The impact of favouritism on the business climate: a study on wasta in Jordan / Markus Loewe … – Bonn : Dt. Inst. für Entwicklungspolitik, 2007 – (Studies / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik ; 30) ISBN 978-3-88985-358-5

Can Jordanians Live Without Family Names?

Having a prominent tribe's name is something many people envy in Jordan. belonging to a tribe, such as those going back to the years preceding the establishment of the country, is something to be proud of. Tribes in Jordan lend to their members a backing in many occasions and happenings. However, tribalism has been a main drag on the country's development. Wasta is the main qualification of those ascending the government, parliament, and even the judicial ladders in a country with a dire need for reform on all fronts. Worse it becomes if the king does not practice what he preaches, evident by the tribal make up of the cabinet and the senate. It goes without saying, in Jordan, that the offsprings of current ministers, members of parliament, and the high ranks of the armed forces are the future ministers, memebrs of parliament and leaders of the armed forces.

The question that begs to be asked: If tribal affliation is hampering Jordanian chances of becoming a nation of laws and institutions, is it time to shed that fourth name off offical documents?

A lawsuit telling of the whole story behind Petra Bank (Chalabi vs. Jordan)

Its a right that Jordanians, and all Arabs for that matter, still lack: Transparency and Freedom of Information. Someone can argue that Journalists also lack professionalism and curiosity, since there are laws in Jordan allowing for requests of information that many journalists don't know about. But, when Journalists are still afraid of asking questions, still adhere to decades old bureaucracy, still speak in the name of the government, and never employ true investigative journalism, Jordanians would never learn what goes on behind the curtains.

This is the lawsuit filed by Ahmad Chalabi in Oct of 2008 against the Jordanian government in regard to Petra Bank that sheds the light on his side of the story of what went wrong and why he fled the country. I am not defending anybody here. I could care less about Chalabi. But information should be free to those who want it. People would have better formulated opinions if they knew all sides to any conflict.

The bank's headquarters remained empty for many years in the 1990's. Its the big building in Wadi Saqra, next to hayat Amman. Now its Amman Cairo Bank.

Desalination (new Jordanian Technology) a Viable Alternative to Disi Water Project

The new topic on the block these days has been the Disi water project and the new study revealing naturally occurring radioactivity in underground aquifers. The Jordanian government, continuing its sacred traditions, contravened and decided to live the lie and go ahead with the project. This behavior, coupled with many Jordanian jouranlists', paid and otherwise, subconscious effort at agreeing with the government, opened the door to conspiracy theories fueled by the mere presence of Israeli scientists in the team that had undertook the study.

All the while, the Jordanian government, people and journalist as well, went past news reports of a Jordanian Scientist, Mohammed Rasool Qtaishat, inventing a new desalination method that would drastically reduce the cost of the process of desalination. Current technologies cost about 50 cents a cubic meter, as in an Israeli desalination plant.

The Disi Project, as it stands now, will cost $875 Million to construct. The government, however, will not get possession of the project for another 25 years. This brings up the issue of opportunity cost given up to Gama Enerji, the contractor constructing and owning the project for its first 25 years of its life. If we were to assume a 20% annual return on investment for the 25 years Gama is the sole owner of the whole project, that would be, discounted to present value, around $2 Billion dollars. (don't ask me to show you calculations! Well, at least give me the benfit of the doubt)

Poseidon, a company in San Diego, CA, has already started work on a desalination plant that will cost $300 Million and produce roughly half as much water as what the Disi project would produce.

My grave concern is that we would have to wait until a new government is formed to know who is actually behind the Disi project and why is it being pushed so hard. We all remember the Dead Sea Casino [or]deal.

How Could Ammonnews Become the Huffington Post of Arabia?

There is no doubt that The Huffington Post has become one of the most influential political blogs in the World. It has, in the almost four years of its existence, become the 89th most visited website in the US. For a private blog to reach that feat in a market such as the US is very admirable. The Hufpost was able to do so by following a few measures to enhance its standing and offer an alternative to the mainstream media. Although most of the contributors to the site do so free of charge, that does not lessen from its credibility. With more funding being reported, the Hufpost is becoming more able to hire its own reports and work on the site's interface to improve usability and reader interaction. In addition, a large percentage of the material is from reputable news sources, such as the NYT, WSJ, and other more prominent source.

Hufpost's ascent to its current position was a testament to people's changing preferences when it comes to reporting news. The same could be said about Jordan. In the Jordanian media market the picture is changing as well. More grassroots websites are becoming popular as they deviate from the decades long status quo of tight government control over what gets reported and which opinions are given sound waves. The below graph, from Alexa, shows how web-only, government disaffiliated news sources are surging in the popularity and are close to overcome more traditional Jordanian news outlets:

the graph shows the growth (slope of the drawn line) in rank of two web-only Jordanian news sites is outpacing that of older, more established newspapers.

In a private, community fueled website the issue of monitoring content is very crucial. Readers would basically say anything they wish without any repercussions. As well as writers, who are free to report about subjects they deem important. At the same time, allowing contributors to explore new areas of reporting and have initiative when it comes to investigative journalism.

What ammonnews could do to enrich its content and build a better reputation is to rely more on the community of readers it was able to amass to monitor content and comments. For the former, a Digg style mechanism could be employed to let readers make worthy news stories become more prominent on the sites home page. This way the site's editors are able to focus on what readers are looking for and what is more important to them. At the same time, readers can vote for comments to "bury" the offensive ones containing fowl language. Fowl language should be the only reason a comment is buried/deleted. If the silent majority is in fact ammon's concern, their voice must be heard regardless of what they have to say.

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