I received the following press release from AmmanNet radio. I am republishing it here with
The government rejected a petition to grant a local radio license for the third biggest city of Jordan, Zarqa. In one of its last decision the outgoing Jordanian cabinet rejected the application by AmmanNet to set up a community radio station that will not broadcast news or politics.
This is the first known case in which a radio license has been rejected in Jordan since the deregulation of airwaves allowing for private ownership.
No explanation was included in the November 13th decision of the outgoing Bakhit cabinet which rejected the request based on clause 18.b of the Jordanian audio visual law. That clause states “The Council of Ministers may refuse to grant broadcasting licenses to any entity without stating the reasons for such rejection.â€
Daoud Kuttab founder and director of AmmanNet called the decision an indirect punishment to the people of Zarqa. “With so many radio licenses in the capital, we expected the Jordanian government to support rather than reject a radio license that will offer public broadcasting to community services-deprived Zarqa. “ Kuttab says that an advisory board made up of community leaders was assembled, a studio space was rented in downtown Zarqa and equipment for the station was ordered. “At a time that Jordan is encouraging independent community-based media, this unexplained decision surprised us, “ he said.
Kuttab called on the newly appointed prime minister to reverse the decision. He also called on the newly elected parliament to revise the Audio Visual Law in a way to make the distribution of radio frequencies a more transparent affair. AmmanNet’s founder also called on the Higher Media Council to act quickly to ensure the respect of the audio visual regulatory process.
AmmanNet said that all the technical requirement for the station were assembled to the satisfaction of the relevant Jordanian regulators. The station reaffirmed its commitment to the people of Zarqa and called on the government to explain why the cabinet chose to reject our request, so that it can correct them.
Has anyone seen this covered in the papers yet?
Comments
6 responses to “Government refuses to license Zarqa community radio station”
I guess its a score for you … I was so busy yesterday to get to publish it.
About the Zarqa station, this is really sad to hear, especially that I know they have been working on that with their limited resources!
That’s quite disappointing ..
Why would they do so ?? I don’t know what kind of bureaucracy is going around the whole Arab World .. they’re fighting improvements, attacking people trying to move forward ..
Well, we’ve heard before about the new regulations against bloggers >>
! 
.. Soon, we’ll be seeing laws controlling how people think ..
That’s sad ..
Here we go again. Another pathetic hurdle imposed by the government impeding any kind of real progress in the AV sector!! WTF? what is this archaic approach to the audiovisual industry ….
So much for liberalization of the airwaves
It is the first known case in which a radio license has been rejected in Jordan since the deregulation of airwaves allowing for private ownership.
Tesadüfen girdim buraya ama çok zevkli