Jordan Press & Publishing Company is a publishing house that runs a series of newspapers and magazines in Jordan including Ad-Dustour (which means “the constitution” in Arabic), a special weekly sports magazine, Ad-Dustour Al-Riyadi, a weekly in English, The Star, and a weekly in Arabic, Daleel Ad-Dustour. By far, Ad-Dustour is the most prominent title in the publisher’s portfolio.
Media assets
Publishing: Ad-Dustour
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
The newspaper Ad-Dustour was privately owned until 1986 when the government of Jordan purchased a stake in the publisher. According to the latest report available, the government owns 35% in Jordan Press & Publishing Company via Social Security Corporation, a state-controlled company.
Source of funding and budget
There is no detailed information about the sources of funding behind Jordan Press & Publishing Company. Its newspapers have been struggling financially in recent years because of the economic crisis, which dented their ad revenues. Local journalists and experts said in the past that the newspapers run by this publisher were kept afloat by state advertising contracts awarded by the government. Yet, there is no conclusive evidence that the state funding exceeds half of the company’s income.
According to a source working for the company, Jordan Press & Publishing Company had total revenues of JOD 2.1m (US$ 2.9m) in 2021, slightly up from JOD 1.8m (US$ 2.5m) in the previous year.
Editorial independence
Ad-Dustour has been regularly described as a pro-government publication, which is solely focused on covering the Royal House and on publishing government announcements. Ad-Dustour often supports and praises the restrictions against freedom of expression imposed by Jordan’s government.
No domestic statute and no independent assessment or oversight mechanism to validate the editorial independence of Al-Dustour have been identified.
August 2023