Jordan Press Association’s Training Center concluded Wednesday a specialized economic reporting course that it organized in cooperation with the Association of Banks in Jordan (ABJ), targeting media members.

The 4-days course’s program included the economic terms that are most used in reporting; macro economy and micro economy; capital market and local and international capital markets; monetary policy, its meaning, the difference between it and the financial policy, the role of the central bank in maintaining monetary stability, the banking system and its role in the economic chain of every country; and, an explanation of bank interest.

Trainers included two economists and two economic journalists: Dr. Ibrahim Nasser, head of Fiscal Policy section at the CBJ, and the CFI financial analyst Mohannad Erekat, director of news department at Petra News Agency Ms. Halla Hadidi and journalist Yousef Dhamrah from Al Ghad daily.

At the closing ceremony, ABJ general director, Dr. Adli Kandah, described journalists as “partners” for the business and financial sectors. Media are a force to reckon with as their influence is on par with other monitoring bodies.

Kandah underlined the importance of a reporter’s knowledge of the sectors he/she is covering, and the necessity of reporting on their developments in an accurate and proper manner that does not seek provocation, but rather unveiling truth in a responsible way.

Dr. Ibrahim Nasser said journalists are our voice. “We are interested in conveying to them the technical understanding of economic issues. Words and swords are alike in that words can be fatal just like swords,” he said.

Financial analyst Erekat talked about the importance of training journalists on how to analyze financial markets and explain it to the public.

Trainer/journalist Halla Hadidi said journalism is “freedom and responsibility.” Freedom is entwined with responsibility, and the first step of responsibility is the accurate knowledge and the correct transfer of facts.

Head of the JPA Training Center, journalist Inas Sweiss told participants about the center’s plan to hold successive workshops with the ABJ on coverage of issues on banks and financial and monetary policies in the kingdom. The goal, she added, is to develop reporting on economic issues as economy is the basis for development and progress in any given country.

The plan, she said, also includes writing economic reports and humanized economic reporting for print and audio-visual media.