Maharat Foundation organized a roundtable session at the Meridian Hotel on Thursday 29th October at 10 a.m. during which the results of the study on the media coverage of the parliamentary elections in Lebanon (June 2009) were revealed. The study was prepared by lawyer Tony Mikhael, Dr. Georges Sadaka and Dr, Ali Rammal. (for more information, find attached below the study in a PDF format)

           The roundtable session was conducted in the presence of the Minister of Interior Mr. Ziad Baroud, the representative of the Minister of Information Dr. Hassan Falha, the M.P. Ghassan Mkhaiber, representatives of Lebanese civil society and media institutions, and International Organizations.

       This study mainly aimed at assessing the performance of media institutions during the elections, based on the new media law number 25 that was issued on 8/10/2008, and that specified the standards of news and advertisement coverage for media institutions. The law carried new rules for media coverage through its strive to ensure balance between all candidates and to prevent the transformation of institutions into promotional tools for specific parties, in addition to trying to find solutions for the high rate of affiliation of these institutions to political or financial powers. This is why, the law explicitly called  for all media institutions to ensure “equity, balance, and objectivity between all candidates” and to abstain from slander, defamation, demeaning, and provoking ethnic or religious sentiments in addition to abstaining from terrorizing others or accusing others of being traitors.

Based on the law’s articles, this study aimed at assessing the level of commitment of media institutions to the clauses of the new law, and the extent to which this new law succeeded in changing the current situation.

The study was based on the analysis of media content through an internationally applied methodology, whereby a Lebanese teamwork was trained by experts from Maharat Foundation in addition to experts  from International Media Support.

Seven TV stations, two radio stations, and 4 daily newspapers were selected based on the fact that they are fairly representative of the major political directions in the country, in addition to the high percentage of viewers, listeners, and readers that they enjoy.  The news content of these institutions was carefully monitored for the four weeks that preceded the elections in order to analyze their coverage and define the extent of their commitment to the elections law.

The analysis process was based on several methods such as classifying news into positive, negative, or neutral news; in addition to a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the texts, and a social and political interpretation of news coverage.

The study concluded that the new media law failed in achieving its goals of monitoring the media institutions and organizing its electoral coverage. Results showed a high number of drawbacks in media coverage such as the absence of balance and objectivity, and the affiliation of some institutions to a clear specific party through promoting specific candidates.

The study also showed drawbacks in the political speech such as the use of terrorization, accusing others of being traitors, using violent language, accusations, incitement and others. In addition, the candidates’ electoral agendas and programs were weak and rather depended on sectarian and religious incitement instead of political and social projects that would fill the gaps in citizens’ lives and respond to public needs. The greatest majority of these irregularities remained unpunished, thus calling for a review of the law and the way it is implemented.

The monitoring process also showed a striking absence of women in these elections, while new faces that were keen on participating in public work were also left out. Money and political spending seemed to play a major role in the electoral process, a factor that might have hindered the elections and paralyzed the voters’ will.

These irregularities represent a serious need to think about effective ways to deal with the situation through the development of the media law, and the role of the elections’ overseeing committee. This does not negate the fact that the new media law constituted a positive leap with a need for perseverance in order to further develop and empower the law.

Maharat foundation will publish this study and make it available for public, specialists, media institutions, and public authorities in order to propagate and benefit from it.