Challenges no deterrent to journalism

It has not been easy doing journalism in Jordan because Jordan was one of the first countries to put a very strict curfew, a very restrictive lockdown where very few people were allowed to move around, and even journalists were not given permissions till much later on to move around.

About this project

This project was produced by VOA’s Extremism Watch and Press Freedom desks. It includes a snapshot of restrictions and challenges for media covering COVID-19 worldwide and personal views of journalists who spoke with VOA.

Nevertheless, we were able to continue broadcasting. … One of the first problems we ran into was that we were receiving many complaints about workers not getting paid and facing problems with their employers.

One of these cases has to do with private hospital. So we contacted the director of the hospital, and our interviewer, after identifying himself, told him to explain his position and he turned quickly to a very angry businessman, attacking us and cursing at us, and using foul language against the radio station and against those who made the complaints against the hospital.

That has caused many problems for the doctor and for us, but the video of this recording went viral and many people saw it and they respected our work. Two days later, the government paid a visit to the hospital and forced them to pay all the staff, so we feel vindicated in this case.