The Corrupt Media of Lebanon
Unlike all Arab countries, Lebanon is the country of freedom...freedom to be corrupt.
We should all be proud that all our media outlets (press, TV and Radio) have been ultra corrupt since independence. A few years ago a prominent journalist said on live TV that he is proud to receive "financial assistance" from friendly countries. I wonder how much are countries in the Gulf and Iran paying our honest journalists and media owners?
Indeed, most media outlets in Lebanon are on the take. They either work for the Hariris, get financed by them, are aspiring to receive Hariri funds or are being financed by their regional enemies and sometimes friends.
Without corruption most media outlets will close and only the most read, viewed or listened to would survive.
No wonder corruption is rarely exposed and things never change. No wonder murderers and thieves rule us. Everything is for sale in Lebanon and we brag about it and then when things go wrong, we cry.
The corrupt are only exposed if they do not pay their political and media dues. And if by chance anyone talks about media corruption...the corrupt media of Lebanon unites and cries of "freedom of the press" are raised.
What a dirty lot!
Long live Blogging and the Internet!
We should all be proud that all our media outlets (press, TV and Radio) have been ultra corrupt since independence. A few years ago a prominent journalist said on live TV that he is proud to receive "financial assistance" from friendly countries. I wonder how much are countries in the Gulf and Iran paying our honest journalists and media owners?
Indeed, most media outlets in Lebanon are on the take. They either work for the Hariris, get financed by them, are aspiring to receive Hariri funds or are being financed by their regional enemies and sometimes friends.
Without corruption most media outlets will close and only the most read, viewed or listened to would survive.
No wonder corruption is rarely exposed and things never change. No wonder murderers and thieves rule us. Everything is for sale in Lebanon and we brag about it and then when things go wrong, we cry.
The corrupt are only exposed if they do not pay their political and media dues. And if by chance anyone talks about media corruption...the corrupt media of Lebanon unites and cries of "freedom of the press" are raised.
What a dirty lot!
Long live Blogging and the Internet!
posted by zadigvoltaire at 3:12 PM
8 Comments:
How true, how true. No Arab country has any claim to an independent professional media since in most cases whatever passes for the press or radio and TV is government owned and controlled. Lebanon is the exception, most media outlets are to the contrary owned by the private sector.These outlets , however, are either owned or financed by either political parties, foreign governments or act as a mouth piece for one group or the other. Not one media outlet operates objectively and is driven to serve the national interest and the truth wherever it leads.
wlc in the club of those already aware of it ;)
And that is the case only in Lebanon? Is the media much more independent in developed countries such as in Europe or the US? There is no such thing as free media. Everyone has an agenda, only some are less skilled in hiding it than others.
mwb,
Don't use the fact that there might not be a perfectly free media anywhere in the world to make the silly assertion that there is no difference between the lightening and the lightening bug.
You cannot expect to be taken seriously when you explain the total failure of say, Tashreen, AlAhram or AlMustaqbal to be on the same level as the problems encountered by say London Times, NYT, Guardian or Le Monde. Give me a break!!!
Exactly what I was saying. I didn't say that the Guardian & Cie aren't infinitely better than the repressive regimes' mouthpieces. I just said that they were more professionnal and could therefore get their messages accross more subtly. Relax.
And come on, we still have some relatively respectable newspapers in Lebanon, I mean compared to Tishreen or Mustaqbal.
The problem is not just corruption but ideology. In this sense there is practically no difference between a government controlled newspaper, tv etc. or a privately owned one.
Tishreen is as much a piece of rag than Mustaqbal and others because both abide by one worldview that is quite remote from the subtelties of reality.
You guys should check my comment on, for example, l'Orient le Jour the second after the Hezbollah/Aoun/Communist/Syndicate demonstration:
http://remarkze.blogspot.com/2006/05/lebanese-media-reveal-its-true-face.html
Corruption becomes a side-effect, something convenient in the distortion process.
At least Lebanon has a free media (relatively speaking) and had had great journalists and announcers over the years. They were the original in the arab world along with Egypt (and even Egypt journalism early on was helped by Lebanese and Syrians).
Meanwhile in Syria, one can go to prison for demanding basic human rights or his country to be a little different, or people can be murdered like what happened in Lebanon last year.
Please forward this link to as many people as possible.
freesyria.wordpress.com is dedicated to demanding Michel Kilo's release
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