Newsroom

Jordan: Journalism handbook seeks to become common reference source for local media outlets

08 May 2009

AMMAN - A recently issued journalism handbook featuring basic guidelines aspires to become a common reference source for the Kingdom's various media outlets.

The handbook was produced by the Abu Mahjoob Creative Productions (AMCP), with the support of USAID's Jordan Media Strengthening Programme, and implemented by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).

The 80-page guide seeks to serve as a single common stylebook for media organisations and individuals and spur a positive spirit of competition that will fuel the continual advancement of the media industry as a whole, according to AMCP's Mohammad Atiyeh.

"We intend for this handbook to be used as a starting point for organisations that have yet to begin to build a stylebook, or those who wish to build upon their current stylebooks," he said.

"We encourage you to use this handbook to your fullest advantage, adapting, building upon, and revising it as needed to build a stylebook best suited to your organisation's mission," he told media figures at the launch earlier this week.

"When IREX and AMCP first discussed this project, we realised what a valuable resource a local stylebook would be," Atiyeh said, adding that the information in the handbook was compiled from different media sources so that all media outlets in the Kingdom could customise it order to establish a stylebook of their own.

Rana Sabbagh, executive director of the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) network, noted that most media outlets in Jordan lack their own stylebook.

"Journalists, particularity senior ones, can benefit from the book in directing their staff performance, as it can act as a reference for judging work quality to thus take correctional measures," Sabbagh, who was a member of the team that prepared the handbook, told The Jordan Times yesterday.

The handbook, in Arabic and English, is divided into 10 chapters on news definitions, sources and values, content categories, news writing style, article structure, reporting different events, newspaper design/typography, writing and editing for TV and radio, guidelines for online journalists, web research and commonly misused words.

The preparation team was headed by Ezzat Hijab, dean of Yarmouk University's journalism faculty, and included Saad Hattar, Sawsan Zaideh and Karimah Whitaker.

By Hani Hazaimeh

Original published by the Jordan Times.