Al-Mamlaka

Al-Mamlaka (Arabic for “the Kingdom”) is Jordan’s state-established public-service news television channel, established under Regulation No. 53 of 2015 concerning the Independent Public Media Station and launched on 16 July 2018 from its headquarters at King Hussein Business Park in Amman. Al-Mamlaka broadcasts news, current affairs, sports, documentaries and investigative content around the clock across Jordan and the wider Arab region, and operates a multi-platform digital portfolio including its English-language news platform Al Mamlaka English. The 2025/26 cycle has produced two notable institutional developments for the broadcaster, namely the launch of Al Mamlaka English on 16 July 2025 and a Royal Decree of 18 May 2026 reconstituting the Board of Directors under part-time Chairman Fahd Khaitan, but no change in the structural framework.

Media assets

Television: Al-Mamlaka, Arabic-language 24-hour public-service news channel

Ownership and governance

Al-Mamlaka was established under Regulation No. 53 of 2015 concerning the Independent Public Media Station, issued on 7 June 2015 and in force from 22 June 2015, with the first Royal Decree appointing the inaugural chairperson and members of the board issued on 10 July 2015. The channel began broadcasting on 16 July 2018 under the founding chairmanship of Fahd Khaitan, a senior Jordanian journalist and former editor-in-chief of Al Arab Al Yawm. The 2026 board comprises a part-time chairman and six part-time members appointed by Royal Decree on the Prime Minister’s recommendation for renewable terms, with voluntary audience committees of academics, civil society figures and religious leaders that review programming and provide editorial feedback.

The 2025/26 cycle’s defining institutional event for Al-Mamlaka governance was the Royal Decree of 18 May 2026 reconstituting the Board of Directors. Fahd Khaitan, who had chaired Al-Mamlaka at launch and was reappointed chairman in May 2024, was again appointed part-time chairman under the Royal Decree effective 18 May 2026. The 18 May 2026 decree also appointed Ghuzayya Hijazi, Bishr Baker, Dana Suyyagh, Ayman El Oqaili, Jawdat Shammas and Mervat Aksoy as part-time members of the board of directors, with Suyyagh’s appointment notable for her prior service as Al-Mamlaka Chief Executive Officer from the channel’s launch until December 2023. The Board reconstitution is the cycle’s principal governance event for Al-Mamlaka.

Jafer Al Zoubi has served as Chief Executive Officer of Al-Mamlaka throughout the 2025/26 review period, continuing in post from his appointment in early 2024 following Dana Suyyagh’s departure at the end of her contract in December 2023. Al Zoubi, who holds a degree from Yarmouk University and has prior senior news production experience at Alhurra, Sky News Arabia and Al Mashhad, was publicly identified as CEO in Al-Mamlaka’s 16 July 2025 announcement of the Al Mamlaka English launch and confirmed in post through the close of the SMM review window. The wider political environment for Al-Mamlaka governance during the cycle was shaped by the September 2024 parliamentary elections and the formation of the Jafar Hassan government, which assumed office on 15 September 2024 and recommended the 18 May 2026 Board reconstitution decree.

Source of funding and budget

Al-Mamlaka is funded predominantly through state allocations and does not publish audited financial statements that would permit full external scrutiny of its operating budget. The channel was initially backed by a government allocation of JOD 10 million (approximately US$14 million) over two years, decreased to JOD 9 million in 2020, then increased to JOD 11 million in 2023. The Lower House Finance Committee discussed Al-Mamlaka’s 2025 budget at approximately JOD 10 million, and the SMM 2025/26 review did not identify a separately published 2026 budget allocation for Al-Mamlaka. According to organisational data reviewed by SMM, the broadcaster employs approximately 373 staff across newsroom, production, technical and administrative functions.

The 2025/26 cycle produced no significant shift in Al-Mamlaka’s funding model: the channel continues to operate within a state-funded framework without independent commercial revenue diversification, and no structural funding reforms had materialised by the close of the SMM review window.

Editorial independence

At launch in 2018, Al-Mamlaka was institutionally positioned as an editorially independent public-service alternative to JRTV, with cutting-edge facilities and an investigative-journalism mandate, and the channel earned early recognition for investigative documentaries, live talk shows and digital reach including a substantial TikTok presence. However, SMM’s earlier review and Jordanian media observers identified a shift by 2021 in which Al-Mamlaka began evading coverage of politically sensitive matters, including King Abdullah II’s discord with the former Crown Prince and the Pandora Papers revelations concerning the monarchy’s offshore holdings; the SMM 2025/26 review identified no documented reversal of that editorial shift during the current cycle.

No external oversight mechanism currently exists to evaluate Al-Mamlaka’s editorial independence and no legal statute guarantees editorial independence at the broadcaster. Regulation No. 53 of 2015 and subsequent governance instruments contain public-service language, but they do not create an effective statutory editorial firewall or an arm’s-length appointment mechanism: the board chairmanship and membership are appointed by Royal Decree on the Prime Minister’s recommendation, and the broadcaster operates within the wider Jordanian press-freedom environment shaped by the 2023 Cybercrime Law, the May 2025 blocking of twelve online news outlets and the absence of statutory protections for editorial independence at Jordanian state-aligned media institutions.

AI and digital policy

Al-Mamlaka has not published a public-facing institutional AI policy. Jordan’s national digital-policy work is pursued primarily through the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, with policy emphasis on infrastructure development, e-government services and AI ecosystem-building rather than a public-broadcasting-specific generative-AI framework. No public-sector generative-AI framework specific to Al-Mamlaka was identified during the 2025/26 review, although the broadcaster’s 16 July 2025 launch of Al Mamlaka English signals continued digital-platform expansion within its existing governance framework.

Classification rationale

Al-Mamlaka remains classified as State-Controlled (SC) for the 2026 cycle. Regulation No. 53 of 2015 gives the broadcaster a formal public-service framework, but it does not create an effective editorial firewall or arm’s-length appointment system; the board chairmanship and membership are appointed by Royal Decree on the Prime Minister’s recommendation, and the 2026 Royal Decree effective 18 May 2026 reconstituted the board under Fahd Khaitan with six part-time members. Al-Mamlaka is funded predominantly through state allocations, with 2025 budget discussions placing its allocation at approximately JOD 10 million, and no audited financial statements sufficient for full external scrutiny were identified. The 2025/26 cycle produced no governance, funding or editorial reform sufficient to move Al-Mamlaka out of the SC category.

June 2026