diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c8161a477..b1bd21ac6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -624,7 +624,8 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_TESTS], [test "x$HAVE_LIBCHECK" = x1])
 
 #### json parsing ####
 
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES(LIBJSON, [ json >= 0.9 ])
+PKG_CHECK_MODULES(LIBJSON, [ json-c >= 0.11 ], [],
+		  [PKG_CHECK_MODULES(LIBJSON, [ json >= 0.9 ])])
 AC_SUBST(LIBJSON_CFLAGS)
 AC_SUBST(LIBJSON_LIBS)