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June 18, 2013
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 End of an Era for Lebanon’s Free PressPosted on Oct 23, 2009
By Robert Fisk Editor’s note: This article was originally published in The Independent. For decades, Lebanese journalism has been applauded as the freest, most outspoken and most literate in the heavily censored Arab world. Alas, no more. Beirut’s best-read daily has just shed more than 50 staff and LBC, one of the country’s best-known television stations, has just fired three of its most prominent presenters. The Lebanese media are being hit – like the rest of the world – by the internet and falling advertising revenues. But this is Lebanon, where politics is always involved. Is something rotten in the state of the Lebanese press? Is it by chance that An Nahar’s culture editor – whose supplement campaigned against assassinated prime minister Rafiq Hariri’s plans for rebuilding downtown Beirut – has been fired after the paper cosied up to the politics of Hariri’s son Saad, now the Lebanese prime minister designate? Is it a coincidence that the three senior presenters on LBC represented the last supporters of the old Lebanese Forces (of civil war infamy) still working at the channel? Neither An Nahar nor LBC are saying anything. But the Lebanese are waiting to find out which of their more than 20 dailies will be the next to shed staff for “economic reasons”. Will the old lefty As Safir find that it has politically recalcitrant staff (unlikely) or will the lovely French-language daily L’Orient Le Jour – whose 18th century French is Royalist rather than Republican – have a battle with those writers who still love ex-General Michel Aoun, Maronite Christian ally of the Hizbollah? The problem is not so much the politics of Lebanon but the feudal state of the press. You cannot start a newspaper in Beirut – you have to buy an existing title from someone else. This costs money. So the rich own newspapers. Not much different, you may say, from the rest of the world. But the system in Lebanon is archaic; there are families in Beirut who own newspapers but don’t publish them – they are still waiting for a buyer. Advertisement But “real” journalism is sometimes hard to come by. When the Syrian army was still in Lebanon, An Nahar was as careful as the rest of the press in making sure that no boats got rocked. Indeed, when the Syrian military first arrived in Beirut in 1976, its offices were raided – to make sure that its journalists realised that they would have to be as compliant as their colleagues on Al-Baath and Tichrin, those titans of Baathist journalism across the mountains in Damascus. But, along with As Safir, An-Nahar had an edge about it. It poached a wonderful analyst called Jihad Zein from As Safir, and under boss Ghassan Tueni it upheld independent journalism. “Tueni offered me the cultural supplement,” Khoury says, “and if he was still in control, none of this would have happened.” It is now his granddaughter Nayla who is in charge. Along with Khoury, Edmund Saab, co-editor in chief, Saha Bahasin and Georges Nassif also lost their jobs. They were told to collect their dismissal notes from a Lebanese postal official on the pavement outside the paper’s central Beirut office. “One journalist came to work at 6pm on a Friday – when the postman had left,” Khoury adds. “He worked the Friday night and on Saturday and Sunday – and read in our rival paper on Monday that he had been fired! This reveals things about our work and about Beirut. The formula that our supplement is independent – that we can say what we want – is no longer acceptable. I didn’t fit. My supplement campaigned against Solidere [in which Rafiq Hariri held 10 per cent of the shares] and we got journalists and architects to write about how the company was destroying Ottoman Beirut and saving only the French colonial buildings. No-one stopped us. I could play the role of a leftist intellectual.” No more. Nayla Tueni’s involvement in the majority March 14th movement, led by Hariri’s son Saad – who himself runs a rather dull daily called Al-Mustaqbal – means An Nahar has taken on a distinctly pro-government flavour. At the same time, LBC has dismissed three of its best-known journalists, apparently because they were the final remnant of the Lebanese Forces on the channel. Diamond Rahme Geagea, Denise Fakhry and Vera Abu Munsif were sacked along with dozens of fellow staff members, including one woman who was six months’ pregnant, a fact which would normally make her un-dismissable under Lebanese law. Even the Christian Maronite patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir, has expressed his concern. The Lebanese journalists’ union has no mandate to help unemployed writers. “Who protects the rights of journalists?” L’Orient Le Jour asked last week. In Lebanon, it seems, the answer is no one.  TAGS:
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© 2013 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
By christian96, October 26, 2009 at 3:56 pm Link to this comment
A FREE Press? Don’t we all pay for it one way or
Report thisanother?
By OzarkMichael, October 26, 2009 at 10:39 am Link to this comment
Speaking of the free press, its a good thing we have Obama to tell us which news outlets to listen to. And which one we shouldnt listen to, namely… Fox news.
But congratulations are in order for Truthdig, who got not just one but two of their writers invited to speak with Obama for an intimate two and a half hour meeting about proper punditry and reporting.
I dont know about you, but I feel so much safer knowing that Truthdig is a US Government approved source for news and opinion. The mainstream media is finally going to get organized and in line with the President’s wishes.
Dont you all agree that the US President should tell the citizens which news station to listen to? And which pundits to read? And which talk shows to listen to? And maybe pass some laws to force the ‘bad’ news outlets to change their programming? Yes, thats the so called fairness doctrine.
Although if a conservative wins the next election and tries to do the same thing to liberal news outlets, that may seem like a bad idea to you. Surely if a conservative President did this you would all worry that its a fascist tactic to try and control the press.
But I will be there to cheer you up, and remind you of this day, when you approved whole heartedly of Obama doing the exact same thing. You will take heart and be glad that Obama’s legacy of “change” marches on, and you will support the next President’s attempt to shut down… I dont know… maybe… Truthdig!
So instead of wringing your hands about Lebanon, Truthdig, you might want to stand up for a free press at home. Which would mean condemning Obama for trying to shut down Fox news.
Stand up for a free press now.
Anyone?
Report thisBy the tshirt doctor, October 25, 2009 at 10:45 am Link to this comment
if anybody’s watches their news or read their newspapers, and who thinks they’ve got a free press, i got a land deal for you. an ocean front property in Tennessee.
Report thisBy melpol, October 25, 2009 at 5:34 am Link to this comment
Propaganda that once was exclusively used by the government is now being
Report thisshared with many news organizations. It is becoming more difficult to stop the
spread of information that incites dissidents and infidels. Only a universal
Ministry Of Truth can restore calm and peace. The bombings in Iraq and
throughout the Middle-East prove this to be true
By christian96, October 24, 2009 at 12:40 am Link to this comment
After reading this article I am afraid Lebanon is
Report thisbeginning to sound more and more like America.
For you Arabs living in Lenanon or any other country
I would suggest you purchase DISH TV(if possible)
and watch Public Broadcasting(PBS), Free Speech and
Link channels along with a program titled “Mosaic:
World News” on Link TV. They are as close as you
are going to get from America that can be called
true jounalism. Primarily because they are not
ruled by big corporations. YET!
By christian96, October 23, 2009 at 11:54 pm Link to this comment
By christian96, October 22 at 1:16 am #
D. R. Zing—-I agree wholeheartedly with 95% of
your comments. I don’t believe the media fell for
the hoax behind the election of George Bush. I
believe the media knew exactly what they were doing.
They were being paid to do so. I believe the media
spending hours on a six-year old boy was what is
called in military terms “diversion.” They were
diverting hours from covering important issues
confronting our nation. I am not sure how people
in main street media sleep at night. I guess they
don’t have a conscience which in Psychology is
labeled as Sociopathic.
Anarcissie—-I appreciate your concern and comments.
I probably won’t leave America. When I was recently
in the hospital with swine flu for 8 days I spoke
with nurses from Costa Rica and Tahiti. I ask, “How
could I live in your countries on $25,000.” They
both replied, “Very well. You would have someone
to clean your house and cook your meals.” Living
alone that sounded appealing. I hate dealing with
trival matters like house keeping. However, it may
sound a bit paranoid but I would be an easier target
for the FBI and CIA. While teaching Educational
Psychology at a university I appeared on a local
TV program hosted by a black fellow on Nov. 7, 1976
to discuss why wealthy people neglect poor people.
The black fellow lost his TV program and I lost my
teaching position. I was unemployed for 18 months
until I finally found a job as a school psychologist
for a public school system. I was never able to
return to teaching at the university level. I can
only assume I was black-balled. There is no doubt
I am known by the FBI. I have a good friend who
works for the FBI. During the 18 months of unemploymeent I went to Caliifornia. I was living
in Pasadena. A lady on Orange Grove Blvd. was renting rooms for $100 bucks a month. I rented a
room while I searched for employment. I also
received food stamps and welfare from California.
Quite a fall from having a doctorate and teaching
at the university level. I stood in the welfare
line with the poor blacks and hispanics. My hopes
were raised when a job became available in Monrovia,
California. The school system was looking for an
elementary school counselor. My Master and Doctoral
degrees were in Elementary School Counseling. When
I went to apply for the job I was told, “I’m sorry
but we are getting pressure to hire a black.” I
said, “Lady, I was raised in a coal mining town in
West Virginia where my father worked in the mines.
We were as poor as any black person.” She responded,
“Sir, I’m sorry. We are getting pressure to hire a
black.” I ask, “What if a black man or woman appied
for the position and their mother and/or father
happened to be a lawyer, are you telling me they
would receive prescedence over me just because I
am not black?” She said, “Yes sir!” I just turned
walked out of the office got behind my car’s steering
wheel and started laughing.
Report this
Please excuse me for placing this under this article.
Report thisI posted it on another site but it has too many posts
for me to make a copy. There is only 1 post following this article so I can easily make a copy
of my post. Thank you.
By Virginia777, October 23, 2009 at 7:57 pm Link to this comment
and we have a “free” press??
Report this