Ghunaimat warns against spread of misinformation at media seminar

AMMAN — Minister of State for Media Affairs and Government Spokesperson Jumana Ghunaimat on Thursday stated that Jordan has overcome a great deal of challenges in the past decade and emerged stronger than before. 

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Ghunaimat said that getting through the difficulties Jordan currently faces requires “hard work by the government and a sense of patriotic sprit and awareness towards these issues”. 

During a seminar titled: “Utilising Psychology in the Media”, held at the Queen Rania Centre for Educational and Psychological Studies, the minister added that the media needs to be responsible in its management of information, in accordance with regulations that guarantee freedom of speech in a professional manner.

Ghunaimat pointed to the government’s initiative “Haggak Tiraf” (in English “your right to know”) which launched a month ago as a platform to investigate and filter information to raise awareness.   

“The media literacy project adopted by Jordan is founded on an educational curriculum that instils in youth professional values, and aims at creating a generation that understands the value of information,” the minister said.   

The role and value of traditional media is being affected by a “tsunami of information and its overflow”, which can lead to the formation of opinions and prejudices void of factual or statistical accuracy, Ghunaimat said. 

Furthermore, the minister stressed that objectivity and truth within the media still exists, but must be reinforced. She warned that the consequences of unethical and unprofessional media practices “transcend the spread of false information, but also lead to the spread of negativity, a loss of trust and the collapse of morals”.

“Modern media is a double-edged sword, which can either be a constructive force or the complete opposite,” Ghunaimat concluded.