Jordan Press Foundation carries out shake-up in top posts

AMMAN – Ramadan Rawashdeh was appointed on Thursday as chairman of the Jordan Press Foundation (JPF), which publishes Al Rai Arabic daily and The Jordan Times. 

Rawashdeh replaced former minister of state for media affairs and communications Samih Maaytah. 

Two board members - — Suhair Al-Ali and Abdul Latif Najdawi — were also replaced by Nadhmi Al Abdullah and Mohammad Abdallat, according to an official at the Social Security Investment Fund (SSIF), which owns 55 per cent of JPF shares. 

The newly appointed chairman and board members represent SSIF at the foundation. 

President of the Jordan Press Association Tareq Momani was appointed as editor-in-chief of Al Rai daily, Jordan’s largest Arabic newspaper. 

Momani, who was Al Rai’s deputy chief editor, replaced Samir Hiari, who served as chief editor for nearly three years. 

The new appointments went into effect Thursday, according to the SSIF official, who preferred to remain unnamed.  

The SSIF, which has five seats out of nine on the board of directors, kept controversial Abdul Hafiz Ajlouni and Mohammad Tarawneh as board members. Sacking Ajlouni and Tarawneh was a demand of JPF employees, who accused the two men of advocating a layoff and failing, as board members, to address the declining financial situation of the foundation.
They also accused the board of failure to find a solution to the commercial printing press on the airport road, which cost over JD35 million, saying that it has drained the finances of the JPF with millions of dinars pumped into it every year. 

The employees want the printing press to be transformed into an independent company and sold to the Social Security Corporation, which they accuse of suggesting the project in the first place.

The SSIF official told The Jordan Times that Ajlouni and Tarawneh kept their posts due to the confidence they enjoy by the state-run fund. 

The JPF has seen four chairmen and Al Rai four chief editors since 2011. 

Before his appointment on Thursday, Rawashdeh was the director general of the Jordan Radio and TV Corporation. 

Al Rai daily has been boycotting government news and running articles critical of the government for almost six weeks over disputes with board members.