The Minister of State for Information Affairs and Government Spokesman Jumana Ghunaimat said that the most important challenges facing the official media is the gap of trust between the citizen and the government, which affects the delivery of the government’s voice to the citizens.

During a meeting organized by the Jordanian Democratic Institutions and Development on Saturday in the Greater Salt Municipality entitled "Challenges Facing Official Media", Minister Ghunaimat added that there are other challenges in keeping pace with the social media’s "tsunami" of information, especially in the presence of rumors and fake news, pointing out that the duty of the government is to provide a bridge to fix this gap.

Ghunaimat said that the government has developed a plan for official media for the years 2019-2020 which will take time and work, with standards and a strategy, stressing that the ambition is to reach the concept of state media beyond the concept of government media, adding that media is a tool of networking and communication between the government with the citizens, during which information is required as a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

She stressed that the government seeks to strengthen the role of national, professional and objective media, so that it is able to provide information quickly and accurately to confront rumors in the face of disinformation, stressing that the new generation of media has a large role due to technological development that took place and the its availability.

The launch of ‘Haqak Te3raf’ (your right to know) platform is known as the development of government e-services, which aims to deal with complaints and services.

Ghunaimat added that the government is seeking to restore confidence in the official media as a supervisory authority, stressing that official media is criticizing the government through the dissemination of press materials and information which shed light on the imbalances.

She pointed out that official media is not a tool to beautify and decorate government policies, but must be placed on the strengths and weaknesses through follow-ups to the work of various state institutions.

Ghunaimat said that the government is working on implementing a parallel program to enable media spokesmen in various ministries and institutions to keep pace with transparency and openness, and to establish the right of the media to obtain information and create a climate conducive to media freedoms.