The risks facing the journalists and the communicators in the Middle East from the perspective of the Jordanian communication practitioners'
Mahmoud Shalabieh، Department of Journalism, Faculty of Mass Communication, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.
Abstract
The study aimed to identify the attitudes and the views of the Jordanian media practitioners towards the risks facing the communicators in general and in the middle east in particular, in the time of wars, conflict, emergency and risky circumstances.
Also the study aimed to identify to what extend these risks affect the freedom of the press and the mass media in general and its responsibilities, and to what extend the privatization of the media corporations support the communication practitioners and giving them larger margin of the freedom to enable them to work in the shade of the risks, conflict, crises, emergency and wars.
The study revealed that 79% of the sample of the study believe that communicators and the journalists must work in a risky circumstances.
93.7% of the respondents stated that working in emergency crises, conflict, cases affect the nature of the media work (always and sometimes).
88.4% of the sample said that the risks facing the communicators and the journalists, affect their credibility in these risky circumstances the study showed that 89.5% of the respondent stated that the dangerous coverages and the risks and difficulties facing the communication practitioners enforced them to blackout and suppress some facts and some events, and that weaken their credibility.
The study revealed that 67.4% of the sample said that the competition among the satellite channels and the exclusive news coverage assist and motivate the communicators to run the risk to attain news beat or scoop.
75.% of the sample said that the work in the media and communication aspects must be independent, faraway from the interests and from domestic, local and external effects.
87.9 believe that the conflicting part and fighting sides in the time of wars and crises are do not secure enough protection for the media practitioners in the news field coverages.
74.2% of the respondents referred to the increasing numbers of the journalists and the communicators who passed away and killed in the field, in time of wars conflict and crises (such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and the other hot areas in the world) and 77.7 believe that the causalities are on purpose and intentional and not by mistake always or sometimes.
81.6% of the respondents said that the press and communication laws which protect the freedom of the press and the communication work are not activated and do not avoid or protect the communicators from arrest or inquiry, trials, or jail in the crises and emergency cases.