AKEED, Wasfi Khushman

Some media outlets fell into the trap of haste and depending on unreliable sources in reporting the details of a fire that claimed the life of a woman inside her house in Dahiyat al-Rasheed, west of the capital, Amman.

At the beginning, newspapers and electronic sites ran a story, quoting a "security source" as saying that Civil Defense personnel had handled a fire that broke out in an apartment. After extinguishing the fire, the body of a woman in her forties with marks of strangulation was found. The competent agencies started investigating the incident.

Hours later, two daily newspapers and a number of sites published a story, also quoting a "security source" as saying that the husband had admitted to strangling and burning his wife. Thus, the story spread to social media platforms under a sensationalist headline: "Murder in Dahiyat al-Rahseed…He Strangled His Wife and Burned Her Body."

Then, the two newspapers and electronic sites removed the story altogether from their pages or replaced it with another story, quoting a "security source," suggesting that investigations were continuing and that no person had been charged yet.  Of course, social media platforms did not heed what the two newspapers and news sites did and the discussion and "analysis" of the incident continued, while revealing the name of the wife, the victim, and her husband.

The next day, a press release was issued by the Public Relations and Media Department in the Public Security Directorate [PSD], revealing the details of the murder. It stated that the suspect was a migrant worker who confessed to committing the murder. The case had been referred to the Grand Criminal Court.  

In another development, some electronic sites published the nationality of the suspect, which is a wrong practice that AKEED had discussed in a previous report.

In a call with AKEED, Lieutenant Colonel Amir Sartawi, official spokesman for the PSD, criticized the reliance on anonymous security sources, which causes the spread of incorrect information. He said that the PSD issued an official statement on the details of the murder and that media outlets had to bear responsibility for (the statements) of their sources.

Answering a question by AKEED on the existence of a mechanism to oblige PSD personnel not to make statements to the media without official permission, Sartawi acknowledged in a recorded message the difficulty of knowing the identity of the sources that leak information to journalists in relation to incidents and crimes. He noted that some media outlets "depend on sources that are not within the security apparatus."

The AKEED Monitor stresses the need for adhering to the standards of accuracy, not publishing any story without confirming its credibility, and depending on reliable sources to prevent the publication of inaccurate information that finds its way to social media platforms.