AKEED, Aya Khawaldeh

Local media outlets committed professional and ethical violations in publishing news about the murder of a Syrian child after he was assaulted. Speed prevailed at the expense of accuracy in reporting information and its credibility. This affects the people receiving the news and due process.

Upon publishing the news, media outlets said that the child was four years old; it later emerged that he was seven years old. Some of them also published a picture of a dead and bloodied child, saying it was of the Syrian child who was found murdered in Al-Nuzha, Al-Ordun Street. The picture was republished by other websites. It turned out that the picture was published on 4 July 2015 on a Lebanese news site within the context of a story about a murder that occurred in the town of Bchamoun.

Another news website published the picture of a child, claiming that it was the murdered child. This is considered a professional and ethical violation. Many media outlets were satisfied with publishing an illustrative picture or a picture of the child while concealing his facial features.

Websites focused in their headlines and news on the citizenship of the child (Syrian), which could cause confusion to readers and make them connect the motives of the murder with the citizenship of the child. However, it turned out that it was a case of murder and had no other dimension.

Social media sites circulated pictures, stating that they were of the murderer and the dead child. The pictures were clearly copied from a personal account on Facebook. Media outlets did not publish them, with the exception of a news website, which published the two pictures together, especially in the wake of a Public Security statement that denied the genuineness of the picture of the murderer being circulated and vowed to track down those who publish it through the Cyber Crime Unit at the Criminal Investigation Department and to take legal action against them.

This is a violation of Article 11 of the Press Code of Honor, which stipulates that "journalists shall be committed to respecting the reputation of families, households, and individuals and the confidentiality of matters related to citizens. This is in line with international principles and the ethics of journalistic work. Every person has the right to have his personal, family, and health life, and his correspondence, respected. Slander; false accusation; insult, defamation, and libel; publishing private secrets; and taking pictures by any means of person without their approval in private places are breaches prohibited by law."

Besides, many media outlets published the first name and family of the perpetrator, quoting social media sites, and quickly deleted it. Some of them kept the name of the child, which is against the principles of publishing news about murders, especially in cases of preliminary investigation. The law prevents the publication of any piece of information about these cases. Article 39 of the Press and Publications Law stipulates that "a press publication may not publish the minutes of investigation related to any case before it is referred to the competent court unless the public prosecution allows this." Also, "a press publication may publish the minutes of court sessions and cover them unless the court decides otherwise to protect the rights of the individual, family, public order, or public morals."

Other media outlets published interviews with members of the family of the victim, who provided information that is essential to the investigation, without confirming this from security agencies.

According to a number of reports prepared by the Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED), the news published about crimes should be silent. This means that it should state the place and time of the crime and the start of security procedures to reveal its details. This is usually done through a Public Security statement, which in this case was published by many media outlets. Others were not satisfied with this as they published the details of the murder, depending on anonymous sources. They used the words "sources close to the investigation," which reflects negatively on the progress of the investigation and on due process.  Media outlets should refrain from publishing upon the start of the investigation; this should continue throughout the stages of the investigation until the results of the investigation are filed or are referred to court to start litigation procedures between the parties.