His Majesty King Abdullah II on Monday ordered the reformation of the Higher Media Council with the aim of making it a regulatory non-executive reference body whose main objective is to create a national media that best serves the state's interests.

"Our vision to advance our national media should be based on developing a new model of Jordanian media that takes into account the spirit of this age, serves the state's objectives, expresses the national identity and reflects aspirations of all Jordanians," King Abdullah said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb.

The King affirmed that mass media should be given the chance to exercise its monitoring role and should have the ability to compete in the media market.

The royal letter noted that new Higher Media Council would serve as regulatory on-executive reference body that works to crystallize the King's vision on developing the national media and translated it into reality on the ground.

"Our vision for building modern Jordan stemmed from basic principles whose main features are justice, freedom and honourable life," King Abdullah said in his letter.

Within this context, we have determined the basic pillars to establish a modern state media that encourages pluralism, freedom of speech and respect of various views, the King said.

The King hoped the new council would be able, in cooperation with the government, to fulfill the desired objectives in establishing a media policy that basically serves the nation's issues and helps reflect the conscience of Jordanians with full credibility and objectivity.