Online media overview: Jordan

ESSENTIAL FACTS

>Jordan is seen as a pocket of stability in the region; the country did not experience the Arab Spring to the same extent as other countries and the media sector was largely unaffected.

> In June 2013, 250 news websites were closed down in the wake of a royal decree requiring them to register with the authorities.
> The online media landscape is dynamic, with hundreds of pure players, and the traditional media are struggling to establish an online presence.
> Numerous pure players are marked by abuse ranging from yellow journalism to publication blackmail. These media serve as political tools and omit fact checking.
> Jordan's premium source of news is Facebook, to which 48% of the citizens subscribe.
> Online advertising revenue is significant and attracts numerous commercial news websites, including content farms with very poor added value.

Exemples de sites d'information à suivre :

Khaberni, Hiber, AmmanNet, Akeed.jo, Kharabeesh.

METHODOLOGY

Each country file starts with four indicators to illustrate the environment within which the online media are evolving:

• Internet penetration level, according to the 2013 figures from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
• Online advertising revenue per Internet user per annum, for 2015, according to Arab Media Outlook projections cross-referenced with the ITU statistics
• The 2015 Work Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters without Borders
• The Freedom of the Net 2014 Index, compiled by Freedom House

The above four indicators are represented graphically in the four quarters of a "sonar" screen, in which the coloured area is proportional to the absolute value (in the case of Internet penetration level) or relative value (in the case of word press and Internet freedom scores and for advertising revenue) across the sample for the eight indicator countries.

A table then lists the five principal news websites most visited in that country, in accordance with the Alexa platform ranking.

For each of these news websites we indicate the following:

• The website URL
• The number of Likes on its Facebook page
• The number of its followers on Twitter
• The type of news website: