Maharat Foundation, in cooperation with the UNESCO regional office in Beirut, launched its annual report on the “Freedom of expression in Lebanon” for the year 2009, in the presence of the Minister of Information Dr. Tarek Mitri p,ress and civil society representatives in a conference held at the Monroe Hotel – Ain el Mrayse, on the fifth of May 2010 at 10:30am.

Mrs. Roula Mikhael, Executive Director of Maharat Foundation, defined the purpose of the annual report which is to shed light on the areas of defect in the performance of media institutions in Lebanon and explore the threats to their role.

“The 2009 report revealed the fragility of the professional situation of media personnel working in Lebanese institutions along with the significant absence of effective interventions of the Lebanese media syndical institutions, reflecting the importance and urgent need of organizing the profession of journalism in all its sectors in a way that guarantees the professional stability of journalists and the necessary guarantees for a decent life as well as protecting them against financial dependence.

Nevertheless, imperative efforts in reforming and amending the current Media Law is mandatory as declared in the Ministerial statement of the current government”.

Dr. Georges Sadaka presented the methodology used in developing the report which was based on several tools that constitute a source of primary information and that allow for studying the reality of the freedom of expression and speech, exposing it the way it really is in the practical field.

The report has 4 major pillars:

- The fragility of the professional situation

- The Daily monitoring of journalism practices  and the working conditions of journalists

- The Legal obstacles and the need for reforming the Media law

- The truth about media freedoms from the journalists’ point of view.

“Compared to the past year’s study, the freedom of opinion and expression in Lebanon has slightly improved by 0.8% in 2009” he added.

On the other hand, Dr. Abdel Menhem Othman – regional director of UNESCO regional office in Beirut, expressed UNESCO’s will in helping all media institutions, NGO’s, governments and personnel in improving the situation of Freedom of Expression worldwide”.

At last, the Minister of Information, DR. Tarek Mitri talked about the reality of freedom of expression in Lebanon uttering the “need to take the freedom of expression in Lebanon to the next level” while supporting the demands of The Lebanese freedom of expression observatory concerning the necessity of reforming the Media law.

* The full report is available as PDF