AKEED, Amman

Several daily newspapers ran a story carried by the Jordan News Agency (Petra) on a meeting between King Abdullah II and Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne, during which they discussed military and defense issues.

Al Rai daily published the news on its first page in its hardcopy edition headlined "King: Intensifying Cooperation and Coordination To Counter Terrorism." A subhead read as follows: "His Majesty Discusses Conditions in Syria and Iraq With French Defense Minister." This subhead includes a mistake by referring to the king"s meeting with the French defense minister, instead of the Australian defense minister.

Al Rai daily noted in the body of the item that the king met with the Australian defense minister, which indicates that it was an oversight.

The other daily newspapers, which ran the news, correctly referred to the nationality of the defense minister, who is Australian. They did not make the same mistake of Al Rai, which reported that the meeting was with the French defense minister.

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) is of the opinion that this mistake was unintentional. However, the newspaper should have checked the final draft before printing it, especially since the news is on the first page and in a prominent place.

Article 9 of the Press Code of Honor stresses that "the mission of journalism requires accuracy and objectivity. Practicing it requires verifying information and news before publishing it." This is also mentioned in the Standards of Verifying the Credibility of Pres Coverage by observing the standard of accuracy and avoiding errors in information and incorrect content.