An interesting piece in the current issue of Columbia Journalism Review
CJR: Choke Hold
Choke Hold: How Jordan tames its press
…When I edited the national news section of The Jordan Times in 2001 and 2002, I was often handed long press releases describing Queen Raina’s visit to a high school or orphanage that had to be printed unedited, along with pictures, as lead stories. Thousands of words praising King Abdullah’s directives to clean up a hospital or build housing for the poor, or his attempts to assist beleaguered Palestinian officials, would also run unedited—straight from the palace to the pages of the newspaper…