By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - The Kingdom's major dailies on Thursday decided to stop news coverage of Parliament in reaction to accusations by lawmakers against the media.

The papers unified their stands against deputies who made negative remarks against journalists as the House debated and upheld a tax on advertising revenue that media figures say would seriously harm the industry.

A meeting was held yesterday bringing together the chief editors of Al Rai, Ad Dustour, Al Arab Al Yawm and Al Ghad at Al Arab Al Yawm's offices, during which the editors decided not to print any news of the House in their dailies.

In a related development, the Jordan Press Association (JPA) issued a statement Thursday denouncing "the unprecedented accusatory language used by several MPs against journalists" during the House session on Wednesday to discuss annulling a clause in the Culture Law that imposes a 5 per cent tax on ads for the Culture Fund.

"The JPA council reiterates its respect for the House’s legislative role as stipulated by the Constitution. However, the council sees that the accusations against the media by some deputies have exposed a crisis inside the Parliament," said the JPA statement, stressing that the media will continue to uphold its accountability role and "its absolute right to objective and constructive criticism in its capacity as the fourth estate".

Al Arab Al Yawm's Editor-in-Chief Taher Odwan said the boycott decision was not based on the House’s rejection of the amendments to the law in question.

"Those who rejected the amendments attacked the media in their deliberations for covering an opinion poll conducted by the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, which showed that the majority of Jordanians are dissatisfied with the performance of the Lower House during the past two years," Odwan told The Jordan Times.

"What they did under the Dome sounded like the MPs were practising martial law against the freedom of the media," he said, adding that the legislature is entitled to reject the bill but they do not have the right to accuse the press of being biased.

Odwan said the dailies will continue covering House deliberations as well as any violations of the law, but noted that MPs who attacked the media would be excluded from the news coverage.

But Ad Dustour Editor-in-Chief Mohammad Tal gave a different account of the deal reached by the editors. He told The Jordan Times that the dailies will not publish any House news at all until deputies issue an official apology.

"The reporters who cover the House news informed their institutions that they will no longer cover Parliament news due to the insults they were subjected to by some MPs," Tal said, stressing that the decision "is clear and there will be no House news coverage whatsoever".

"What we did in publishing the results of the opinion poll was a practice of press freedom and freedom of expression. Parliament is supposed to be the umbrella that protects these rights. What they did was totally in violation of these rights," Tal added.

During Wednesday's session, 51 out of 76 attending deputies rejected a modification to the Culture Law intended to annul a 5 per cent tax on media outlets’ advertising revenues, despite expectations that the amendment would pass, especially since the majority of lawmakers had called for the change.

Last April, 58 MPs signed a petition calling on the government to annul this tax, with a request by the same deputies to discuss this amendment in the extraordinary session that is currently ongoing.

Also, in an earlier meeting with local newspaper directors and editors-in-chief, Lower House Speaker and president of the 56-deputy National Current Bloc Abdul Hadi Majali pledged to exert efforts to revisit the law following a protest by industry leaders.

Deputy Sharaf Haiajneh (Irbid, 8th District) said he voted in favour of annulling the tax, which he described as "harmful to the economy" especially in light of the current harsh economic situation.

"I am a businessman myself and I know the damage it will cause to the economy," Haiajneh said, adding that the culture tax imposed by the law will be paid by advertisers rather than the media outlets, which are “part of the Kingdom's national economy and contributors to economic development”.

However, Haiajneh said boycotting the House is not the answer, calling for the two sides to meet and bridge their differences.

Deputy Samih Bino (Amman, 5th District) said he voted against the amendment because the government violated the law by not implementing it after it was published in the Official Gazette.

Defending his stand, he stressed that the media took his “offensive” remarks against the press while discussing the bill “out of context”.

"The media handled my words wrongfully. Just like they did when they handled the opinion poll about the performance of deputies," Bino said, calling for more “understanding and tolerance” by the media.

"The government is using the press to tarnish the image of Parliament and weaken us. They want us to be a toy in their hands," he added.

House media adviser Hamdan Al Hajj declined to comment, citing directives issued by the House speaker.