By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - As media outlets continued their campaign to boycott the Lower House, efforts are being exerted to bring the two sides to the table to overcome the crisis.

Yesterday, a meeting took place at Al Rai headquarters between Jordan Press Association (JPA) President and Chief Editor of Al Rai Daily Abdul Wahab Zgheilat and Deputy Abdul Karim Dughmi (Mafraq District) in an attempt to bring the two sides closer.

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

The papers united 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 Thursday 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.

Zgheilat told The Jordan Times on Sunday that the JPA instructed all media outlets to support the boycott.

The JPA president stressed that the media body is committed to the boycott, stressing that it will not be lifted until the JPA receives an official apology from the deputies who attacked the media under the Dome.

In the meantime, parallel efforts were exerted in order to stop the escalation from both sides.

"Yesterday I also received phone calls from Lower House Speaker [Abdul Hadi Majali] and Senate President [Zeid Rifai] who offered to mediate to bring an end to the crisis,” Zgheilat said.

“We haven’t agreed on a place to meet yet." He added that he insisted on holding the meeting at the JPA premises.

According to Zgheilat, the JPA council during its session today will discuss a request by its members to file lawsuits against the MPs who offended the press.

Following the dailies' decision, publishers of 24 weeklies, monthlies and online news websites met together to discuss the deputies' attitude towards the media, according to a statement posted on their relative websites.

The publishers decided to support the dailies and the JPA call to boycott the MPs for attacking journalists.

Meanwhile, Deputy Sharaf Haiajneh (Irbid, 8th District) called on all parties to resort to dialogue and the language of reason in a statement faxed to The Jordan Times yesterday.

In the statement, Haiajneh criticised the accusatory language used by some MPs against the media, adding that journalists are part of the Kingdom's democratic process, of which the Parliament is the umbrella.

"The two sides are key in anti-corruption efforts and must work together towards addressing any violation of the law," Haiajneh said, calling on journalists and deputies to work side by side to protect the country's national interests and the interest of citizens.

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, Speaker Majali, who is also president of the 56-strong National Current Bloc, pledged to exert efforts to revisit the law following a protest by industry leaders.