| Name: |
Khalil
El-Saghir
|
| Country: |
Dearborn,
MI - U.S.A.
|
| Date: |
Friday,
April 25, 2003
|
 |
The Lebanese TV
Fleet
On the eve of the court’s decision to
shut down MTV
|
With all due respect, I believe that this whole MTV ordeal was so bluntly biased and personal that it made a
"martyr on the altar of freedom" out of a shady and bankrupt station. Everyone knows that Michael Al-Murr, his son and daughter wanted to avenge loosing the Matin parliamentary seat to “poor” uncle Gabriel, who naively thought that “Qurnet Shahwan” would steadfastly stand by him, forgetting that they only used him against his Big Brother. Well, Gabriel got what he’s worth in the family and MTV employees paid the price!
As for the accusations against MTV of being sectarian and biased before, during and after the said election, I think they are flatly hypocritical! I challenge any independent minded person to tell me that there is one sectarian-free and unbiased TV station in Lebanon, whether by its contents or by the religious affiliation of its “actual” owners and/or employees.
Future TV, the second most popular TV station in the country, is the closest to non-sectarian amongst its sisters. Yet, by mere of ownership, it’s a 100% Hariri biased media outlet, and no one has yet forgotten how it behaved when its heavyweight boss was out of office for a while. It was almost shut down at the time, rightfully!
LBC, the most popular among the “Lebanese TV Fleet”, is probably the most sectarian and biased of all. It had to be sold to the Saudis to protect itself from being outlawed, after Suleiman Franjieh, part owner, dropped his political support for the station and Sheikh Pierre Daher refused to be under the protection of Issam Fares, another part owner. It’s enough, he thought, Baqradouni was made chairman of the Phalanges!
NBN, sarcastically called “Nabih Berry Network”, is sealed against any accusations or questioning just like its owner and ornamental icon, whose news usually eat up half the broadcast, like all official Arabic TV stations. Its budget perhaps exceeds that of the entire Amal Movement while its viewership, except for a couple of programs, is relatively negligible, especially outside the Zahrani district!
Al-Manar, the most respectable of all in my opinion, is obviously the most biased toward one-sided political and religious view, regardless of whether you’re with or against that side. It is unquestionably protected by the President and by Syria for its role in the resistance. However, the Americans, as much as the Israelis, are more eager to shut
it down than to disarm Hizbollah, due to the increasingly powerful influence of the station all over the Arab World and more specifically now over the Iraqis who would very soon be setting up dishes on the top of their roofs!
As for the Official Lebanese TV station, I don’t think that anyone even cares what it broadcasts, not even its employees, simply because no one watches it!
Finally, and having said all this, it’s as much important to note that based on the latest media war, which we all witnessed during the American War on Iraq, it’s safe to say that “objective and unbiased media” is nothing but a fantasy that exists not beyond our wishful thinking! So let’s be more realistic in our judgment and let’s pray that one-day, hopefully in this not too rosy looking century, objectivity and unbiased media coverage would become the norm, and that “Presstitution” and “embedded” media would become a faded bad memory of the past.
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