Update 8 Aug 2020
Macron arrived in Lebanon three days after a deadly blast tore through the capital . Macron walked through Beirut's damaged streets as crowds jostled around him chanting for the government to "fall" and asking for international aid.
He promised locals a "new political pact", and would give the Lebanese government until September 1 to impose it.
During a press conference on Thursday evening, he said French aid to Lebanon will be channeled "directly towards NGOs" and promised to organise an aid conference with the EU in the coming days.
But he warned there would be "no blank cheque to a system that doesn't have the confidence of the people." He called for an independent investigation into the causes of the explosion.
“There is a political, moral, economic and financial crisis that has lasted several months, several years. This implies strong political responsibility,” Macron said, adding that he discussed addressing corruption and other urgent reforms with Lebanon's president and prime minister.
“I came here to show the support of the French nation for the Lebanese people,” Macron said.
Clearly Macron took off his diplomatic gloves during the press conference. Sadly if you hear the questions asked, you will be disappointed. Very clearly they prepared superficial questions, did not hear the answers, and did not follow up, they just asked!
Macron himself said that they were not hearing his answers and will not answer any question that was already asked. Sad, why is it that Lebanese media is failing so badly when we know there are very competent journalists. Sadly these competent journalists never attend press conferences. Opportunities are lost and press conferences are disarmed.
In comparison,
No comment!
Updated 25 July 2020
I repeat, yes it is!Le Drian, on the first such visit of a top foreign politician in months, made no secret of his exasperation with a leadership he described as "passive".
"Concrete actions have been expected for too long," Le Drian said, in a statement to the press after meeting his counterpart Nassif Hitti.
What is not advertise is his saying that he never saw such a 'forest' of microphone.
And then the shouting match started with journalists fighting to ask questions, none of which made real sense.
An image that is far removed from the 1970s when Lebanon offered a unique cultural openness and freedom of expression. Beirut was the region’s media hub.
It is clear that today
The media sector faces the risk of flattening over the polarising tendencies based on confessional and ideological lines, tending to prefer populist narratives to cope with the financial and legitimacy crisis. (Media Landscapes created by the European Journalism Centre, in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science)
Posted 21 May 2020
Yes, it is! And honestly it saddens me and angers me.Lebanese media is free we say. Meaning that they can publish and say what they want.
True. But what are they saying?
I would say uttering nonsense or nineties and here lies the problem.
They lack professionalism.
Written media who used to be well respected has been brought down by financial restrictions they say. I have subscriptions in more than a newspaper in an effort of support. Honestly I rarely am encouraged to read any of the articles. They do not give me anything.
Written media's strength in the age of social media and online publishing is analysis and sources.
Background research is lacking and there is real sources that provide something that is not being said everywhere by bloggers or just 'social media posters'.
Television and radio are not better. The News section starts with a 'prelude' that states the channel opinion in prose. Unbelievable! The political interviews section which is very powerful as to audience is a real mess. The strategy is to bring a guest and just bombard him with clichés that 'the other side' says. And then defend the cliché' vehemently interrupting the guest with populist statements with no effort to check these statement or rely on any reasonable or knowledgeable arguments. Even if the guest has interesting information to add, they circumvent him by forcing him to defend against stupidities.
They try to emulate Tim Sebastian in HardTalk forgetting that Sebastian relies on information when facing a guest and not 'clichés!
As to investigative journalism, forget it. I know that investigative journalism needs resources. But honestly it does need lots of resources to just compile information and generate an interesting document in the time of covid-19 crisis. There is no place on a newspaper or TV or website where I can see a comprehensive analysis of the numbers in Lebanon or tracing or anything other.
I am disappointed, surely it is not a lack of resources. It is just walking the easy road.
No effort or work ethics.
No background research or investigative efforts.
Freedom is not saying anything and everything.
It is the role of the media to present their audience with balanced and informative material.
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