The fall of the Lebanese press

My favourite journalist Robert Fisk looks at the state of the press in Lebanon in this morning's Independent and doesn't find a particually good picture

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?

The problem is part economic,part stuctural.As Fisk continues

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.

Blogging from Beirut

With the crisis in Lebanon continuing one blogger is getting a fair bit of attention.

Manal is a Moroccan student studying at the American University in Beirut,the blog is in French but thankfully Global voices has done some translation.

This from Sunday after the fighting calmed down

We really can't tell if it's finally over. Here at the university, it's all anyone talks about, about this nightmaresque weekend whose sonorous memories are still echoing around in our little heads.
No classes this Monday, student life is going back to normal little by little. Debates continue. What is going to happen? Now the Lebanese are speaking about hate! My neighbor, a young Sunni female nutrition student told me that she doesn't want to go see her best friend -who's Shiite- and who lives in the same building as us. She told me this friend of her has pictures of Hassan Nasrallah on her bedroom wall and that is she goes there, she might tear into them because she feels so much hatred.

And a good synopsis of the situation

It's not easy living in a country that counts more than 18 religious groups; a Shiite friend explained to me one day why neighborhoods are segregated [by religion]. For example, why is the Hamra neighborhood mainly Sunni, Dahiyeh is Shiite, Achrafieyeh is primarily Christian? She told me that during the civil war, several families were murdered by their neighbors who were of different religions and, for this reason, the different communities preferred to live amongst themselves to feel more secure! Now the neighborhoods are being attacked according to these divisions…But what I don't understand is that just because I'm Sunni doesn't mean that I support the government, I have lots of Sunni friends who are with the opposition!

Fighting forces pro government channel off the air in Beirut

The latest fighting in Lebanon has for the moment forced the pro government Tv channel Future news off the air.

According to ADP

"Armed gunmen surrounded the building, stormed into the garage and demanded
through the army the shutdown of the station," the head of Future News Nadim
Moulla told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "We decided to place the matter in the
hands of the army."

Newswatch India reports that

Future News is owned by Saad al-Hariri, leader of Lebanon's US-backed ruling coalition.