Geopolitics, Security and Reform in Jordanian Broadcasting

What makes structural reform truly structural? Arab broadcasting appeared to undergo major structural shifts with the growth of the panArab satellite market, which forced Arab governments to rethink their national broadcasting policies. The policy Jordan adopted was one that, if expressed in headlines, could potentially be labelled as structural reform. It promised an end to the state monopoly, a licensing system for private terrestrial stations and a revitalized public broadcaster, equipped to face a new era of competition. Such a welcome for reform accorded with Jordan’s reputation as enjoying a more open and responsive political system than the neighbouring dictatorships, whose oppressed populations erupted in anger in 2011. One analyst summarized this reputation in February 2011 by drawing comparisons with Egypt under its recently ousted president Hosni Mubarak. The Jordanian regime can be harsh, he wrote, but does not resort to the ‘daily thuggishness’ of Mubarak’s Egypt. Its establishment press is ‘restrained but not Orwellian’. Its elections have been manipulated and its parliament marginalized, but only up to a point, and its top figures are ‘not as impervious’ as the Egyptian leadership in Mubarak’s final days. 1 Indeed, signs of responsiveness to pressure for broadcast reform emerged earlier in Jordan than in most other Arab states. They even predated the 1999 accession of King Abdullah, who is often credited with pushing for modernization of Jordan’s media. Plans were first articulated in 1996 to turn the government- controlled Jordan Radio and Television Corporation ( JRTVC) into a commercial entity and open the sector to some private activity; they then resurfaced in 1999, with talk of creating a new regulatory body to replace the