MEDIA CRISIS IN LEBANON EXACERBATED
It seems that the local media is among the most prominent victims of the financial and economic collapse in Lebanon.
As a matter of fact, media institutions, including print, TV and radio - have been struggling financially in recent months.
Some organizations have shed employees and cut salaries, while others have closed down altogether.
The Daily Star temporarily suspends print edition
Lebanon’s English-language newspaper, The Daily Star, has announced the temporary suspension of its print edition due to the financial challenges facing the Lebanese press, which have been exacerbated by the deterioration of the economic situation in the country. The Daily Star’s website and social media platforms will remain operational, and will continue to offer first-rate news coverage and content from Lebanon, the Middle East and beyond. A drop to virtually no advertising revenue in the last quarter of 2019, as well as in January of this year, compounded the already dire financial situation that has ravaged Lebanese newspapers with the rise of digital media and years of dwindling spending on ads as a result of the years-old economic slowdown.
Back in September 2019, The Daily Star refrained from publishing news articles in its print edition to take a stance on the deteriorating situation in Lebanon, and called on officials to “wake up” before it is too late. A special edition was printed with each page listing one main issue dragging the country toward the abyss.
The Daily Star hopes to relaunch its paper version and return to newsstands once the storm passes.
Founded in 1952, The Daily Star was one of the first Englishlanguage newspapers in the Arab world. It stopped printing during the Civil War but relaunched in 1996.
Radio One Shuts off
Another victim of the economic crisis gripping Lebanon is Radio one, which shut down on the
1st of February.
Radio One, one of Lebanon’s oldest FM stations, was founded in 1983 by Raymond Gaspar to play international music around the clock, seven days a week. Roger Gaspar was the program director.
It is worth noting that the station had managed to stay open through years of war but obviously couldn’t sustain itself anymore.
LBCI & NTV to switch to encrypted broadcasting
On another front, two local TV channels, LBCI and NTV, have announced their transition soon from the free open broadcasting to the encrypted broadcasting.
To watch the channels, local viewers must subscribe to a cable provider. The main reason being the scarcity of advertising revenues, which has dropped tremendously.
Magazine Le Mentuel,
a French-language publication established in 1956, printed its final issue in December because of a drop in advertisement revenues. It has rebranded in 2016 from the weekly L’hebdo magazine to the monthly that it was last.