His Majesty King Abdullah II on Wednesday put forward his vision for the Jordanian media aimed to establish a media system that could set a model for responsible freedom in the region. "We want the Jordanian media to take a leading role and to set a model for responsibility in the region," the King said during a meeting on Wednesday at Basman Palace with President and members of the Higher Media Council (HMC).

The decision to form the council was one of the most important decisions taken at this phase, the King said. The council has big responsibilities and the more it succeeds the more the role of the Information Ministry is likely to be changed, King Abdullah added.

During the meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister and Royal Court Chief, King Abdullah outlined his media vision based on establishing a Jordanian media system that could form a main pillar to achieve political, economic, social and cultural development. The King's vision encourages pluralism, respect of opinion and counter opinion, and media performance characterized by high professionalism, creativity and excellence. It also encouraged independence of media institutions and investment in the media field.

According to the King's vision, HMC serves as a non-executive regulatory and reference body that could help to shape out a media policy designed to develop the media sector.

"We will not allow the regional circumstances to derail us from the path we have made to develop our homeland and realize our vision for modern Jordan where democracy and freedom prevail," said King Abdullah, who affirmed his support to the council as well as his keenness to maintain cooperation between the council and the government.

"The Media is a strong weapon through which we can develop the concept of "Jordan First", the King said.

Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb said the government would work to implement the royal vision for media development in cooperation with the council. The ceiling of freedom given to the media should be accompanied by national responsibility on part of media organizations and their staff, he said.

HMC President Ibrahim Izzedine said the royal vision, which focuses on providing an equitable ceiling of freedom and professionalism, came to lay the ground for a new phase of our national march.

Professionalism and freedom for the media are the responsibility of all of us and the media sector was ready to develop itself but it would like to see a wide margin of freedom, he said.