Jordanian Electronic Newspapers and Shaping the Public’s Attitudes towards Social Issues

Abstract

This survey study aims to identify the role of the Jordanian electronic newspapers in shaping the Jordanian public’s attitudes towards community issues. The questionnaire used a tool to collect information from a publicly available sample of 500 respondents. The results of the study revealed the public’s interest in reading Jordanian electronic newspapers by 78.2%. The level of interest of the Jordanian electronic newspapers in publishing topics about social issues of concern to individuals in their lives was weak, and it did not have priority in publishing, it came in fourth place, with a mathematical average of 2,962, a medium level. The results indicated that Jordanian electronic newspapers have a role in shaping the positive attitudes of the public towards a number of important community issues, foremost of which is the criticism of the negative effects of the phenomenon of corruption, with an average of 4.544 at a high level, but its role was weak in raising awareness of the negative effects of rumors, with an average of 1.866, at a low level. On the issues of Jordanian society, and the formation of public attitudes towards those issues. The study recommended that the Jordanian Media Commission encourages the establishment of specialized electronic community journalism that is concerned with the human aspect of social life, and analyzes social problems and ways to address them, to contribute positively to the advancement of society.