The Values of Neutrality and Balance in the Jordanian Media

A Comparative Analytical Study on the Electronic Versions of Newspapers

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the availability of elements of neutrality and balance in the content of media produced by professional journalists in the Jordanian media. In particular, the study tried to link the theoretical perceptions of journalists about the concepts of neutrality and balance with the actual practice of what they publish in newspapers on the ground.

The study used the tool of questionnaire to measure the attitudes of journalists on a simple random sample of 200 journalists, and used content analysis to measure the availability of the concepts of neutrality and balance on a simple random sample that includes 188 press reports published in three printed Jordanian daily newspapers, namely Al-Dustour, Al-Rai and Al-Ghad.

The results of the study showed that 59% of journalists believe that neutrality has standards that are considered "very important" in journalistic work, and 43% believe that journalistic balance has standards that are "very acceptable" to journalists' culture of professionalism. The results also indicated that 87% of the published press materials met the standards of netrality in publishing because journalists did not include their personal opinions and feelings in the content, but at the same time they were "unbalanced" by 72%.

The study provided explanations for these results and recommendations as well as the most prominent limitations of the study.