Al Raya Media Group

Al Raya Media Group is a JAF-affiliated military media group operating within the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army’s military-media structure, overseen by the JAF Military Media Directorate (formerly the Moral Guidance Department, renamed in 2022). The Group’s public-facing portfolio of broadcast and digital outlets includes Radio Hala, Jeish FM and Bliss 104.3 (also rendered Radio Bliss), with Hala News operating as the Group’s digital news platform; the Radio of the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army (Army Radio) operates as part of the wider JAF military-media environment.

Media assets

Radio: Radio Hala (Arabic: راديو هلا); Jeish FM (Arabic: جيش FM); Bliss 104.3 (also rendered Radio Bliss)

Ownership and governance

Al Raya Media Group is the brand name under which the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army consolidated part of its institutional media operations. Public descriptions continue to identify the Group as affiliated with the JAF and to list its principal public-facing portfolio as Radio Hala, Hala News, Jeish FM and Bliss 104.3. Jeish FM was launched in 2016 as part of the JAF’s media expansion, at a ceremony at King Hussein Business Park attended by Their Royal Highnesses Prince Feisal bin Al Hussein and Princess Zina Al Feisal; the Radio of the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army (Army Radio) operates as part of the broader military-media environment alongside the Al Raya portfolio.

Editorial leadership and station-management arrangements at Al Raya Media Group are attributed to SMM-retained expert sources and Jordanian media professionals consulted in March 2024 and February 2025. According to those sources, appointments and editorial decision-making are embedded in the JAF chain of command rather than in a civilian corporate-governance structure, and no independent civilian board, no statutory editorial firewall and no oversight mechanism separates Al Raya’s editorial output from the military institution. No public evidence of a governance reform introducing civilian oversight or editorial-independence safeguards was identified during the 2025/26 review cycle.

The wider 2025/26 operating context for Al Raya was shaped by a higher public profile for the Jordanian Armed Forces. Jordan reactivated its National Service Programme in 2025, announced by Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, with Brigadier General Mustafa Hiyari and the government spokesperson detailing the programme at a press briefing on 18 August 2025. The first 2026 training phase began on 1 February 2026, enlisting 6,000 recruits born in 2007 via lottery. The same cycle was marked by heightened regional-security pressures during the 2026 Iran-Israel/US regional escalation, including Jordanian air-defence interceptions over Jordanian airspace. This context reinforced the relevance of Al Raya’s role as a military-affiliated public-communication platform during a cycle of elevated Jordanian Armed Forces visibility in national life.

Source of funding and budget

Al Raya Media Group’s funding model is hybrid: JAF-linked institutional support underwrites the Group’s military-affiliated operations, while commercial advertising revenue is generated through its public-facing radio brands. The exact current operating budget, the size of the JAF allocation and the advertising share of total revenue are not disclosed in audited public accounts, and Al Raya does not publish audited financial statements that would permit full external scrutiny of its funding architecture. According to SMM-retained expert sources, commercial advertising revenue accounts for over half of the Group’s overall revenue, but this estimate should be understood as expert-sourced rather than independently verified public financial data.

This hybrid funding model allows the Jordanian Armed Forces to underwrite strategic military-affiliated programming while leveraging commercial market revenue through the Group’s broadcast brands. The 2025/26 cycle produced no structural funding reform: Al Raya continued to operate within the same hybrid funding architecture, with no shift toward audited public financial disclosure during the SMM review window.

Editorial independence

Al Raya Media Group’s editorial output throughout the 2025/26 cycle has continued to reflect the institutional alignment of the JAF Military Media Directorate, with the Group’s stations consistently producing content that supports official Jordanian military and state priorities. According to SMM-retained expert sources and Jordanian journalists consulted during prior cycles, Al Raya’s stations serve as a channel for Jordanian state and military messaging, with programming choices routinely supporting official priorities including coverage of military exercises, public safety advisories, border-security initiatives, national unity campaigns and Royal Family activities. The elevated JAF profile during the 2025/26 cycle, including the National Service reactivation and the regional security incidents, has been reflected in Al Raya’s content production without independent editorial verification by structures outside the military chain of command.

No statute in Jordanian law guarantees the editorial independence of Al Raya Media Group, and no independent oversight body exists to assess editorial standards or prevent military interference at the Group. The wider Jordanian press-freedom environment during the cycle has continued under the 2023 Cybercrime Law, which has been used in cases involving Jordanian journalists and commentators including Hiba Abu Taha (convicted under the 2023 Cybercrime Law) and Ahmad Hassan al-Zoubi (imprisoned in a cybercrime case linked to a 2022 social-media post), and the May 2025 blocking of twelve online news outlets including Voice of Jordan, Raseef22 and Middle East Eye documented by Freedom House. Freedom House and other Jordanian press-freedom monitors consistently identify self-censorship around the armed forces, the royal court and religion as a structural feature of the Jordanian media environment, with criticism of the military among the principal red lines for Jordanian newsrooms.

AI and digital policy

Al Raya Media Group has not published a public-facing institutional AI policy. Jordan’s national digital-policy framework is led primarily through the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship and includes the national AI Strategy and the 2026 to 2028 Digital Transformation Strategy. These frameworks address digital transformation, AI capacity-building, infrastructure development and public-sector technology development, but no military-media-specific generative-AI framework for Al Raya was identified during the 2025/26 review. The Group has continued to expand its digital platform delivery during the cycle, including station websites and the Hala News digital platform, without a published institutional generative-AI framework.

Classification rationale

Al Raya Media Group remains classified as Captured Public (CaPu) for the 2026 cycle. The Group is institutionally embedded in the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army’s military-media structure through the JAF Military Media Directorate (formerly the Moral Guidance Department), with editorial and management arrangements reported by SMM-retained sources to operate within the military chain of command and no independent civilian oversight or statutory editorial firewall identified during the review. Al Raya is differentiated from a purely State-Controlled model by its commercially branded radio operations and advertising-based revenue stream, which SMM-retained expert sources estimate to represent a significant share of overall income, and its stations have served as a channel for state and military messaging throughout the 2025/26 cycle including during the elevated JAF profile around the August 2025 National Service reactivation and the 1 February 2026 first conscription training phase. No governance, funding or editorial reform sufficient to change the 2025 SMM baseline classification was identified during the 2025/26 cycle.

June 2026