Global Voices Online

“Are we witnessing a media freedom backslide in Jordan? For the past couple years or so, Jordan has been making baby steps towards safeguarding the freedom of the press, one was the recent scrapping of an article that imprisoned journalists. However, from what I read this week, things are not looking good as it seems the kingdom is regressing to its earlier status of muzzling press freedoms.I will try not to jump to conclusions quickly and point out that the Jordanian government has denied banning the newspaper,” writes Jordanian blogger Natasha Tynes on the World Press Freedom Day.

Recent Links also in Middle East & North Africa

Bahraini blogger Ali Abdulemam wonders how four Emirati citizens who were allegedly attacked by a group of Bahrainis received a rapid official response, including a visit from the Bahraini Prime Minister: “This is how fast the justice is, we don't need courts, we don't need story details.”

In Bahrain, Ashish Gorde comments: “I really don't know Michael Jackson and, for that matter, neither does any of the scribes who have written loud commentaries on his life, his career, his legacy. What I know of him is what the media presented to the world. And now it is the loss of that image we mourn.”

A film on student protest movement in Kashan University in Iran.