The Community Media Network (Radio Al-Balad 92.5/AmmanNet) is releasing the first episodes from season three of Social Justice on Thursday, in cooperation with the Tunisia office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, through its regional project, Economic Policies for Social Justice.

Social Justice sheds light on five principles of social justice, and the influence of economic policies, especially capitalist policies, on vital sectors such as education, health, and labor, and their impact on vulnerable groups such as the poor, workers, and women.

The program also sheds light on government austerity policies, the reduction in social safety nets in response to IMF programs, the impact on the poorest class, the rise in public debt, and the taxation of citizens to pay off those debts.

“The new season of the program enlists journalists and academics to produce podcast reports on issues related to social justice, in order to foster critical thinking in local media about the effects of neoliberal policies on vital sectors, and the effects of the rentier economy on the services that the state provides to citizens,” says producer and presenter Mohammad Ersan.

According to Ersan, “all articles and podcasts will be published on the Social Justice page. This season includes 10 articles by professional journalists and 10 podcast episodes, in additional to 10 radio episodes broadcast on Radio Al-Balad 92.5.”

The new episodes include “Linking the Jordanian dinar to the dollar and raising interest rates,” “Neoliberal economic policies and their effect on health, agriculture, and climate change,” and “The absence of a social safety net and the impact of borrowing policies on services and infrastructure in Jordan.”

The Community Media Network is a non-profit foundation founded and managed by the journalist Daoud Kuttab. It was registered on March 19, 2007 under Number 156 with the goal of setting up and managing media and cultural projects in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the broader Arab world. The Network operates a community radio station, Radio Al-Balad, and a website, AmmanNet.

The Network was the first to earn a certificate from the Journalism Trust Initiative, an international project by Reporters Without Borders to verify media outlets’ compliance with professional norms and ethics.