Flagship Lebanese “politics show” cut short: A first, in protest over media freedom
Posted on: March 16, 2014
LBC News cuts off its own show in self-censorship row
A leading Lebanese TV channel has cut short its flagship politics show over a perceived crackdown on media freedom.
Joe Dyke posted in THE BUZZ this March 14, 2014
LBC News cut off its normally one-hour Nharkom Saeed (meaning “Have a Good Day”) politics show after just 7 minutes on Friday after the host Dima Sadek repeatedly and sarcastically cautioned her guest – political analyst and blogger Imad Bazzi – that various topics were out of bounds.
Among the issues that Sadek said they were not allowed to discuss were religious conflict in the country, the failures of the judiciary, President Michel Sleiman and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and who was minister of energy and water.
In recent weeks, following the formation of the new government, a number of media publications in Lebanon have faced increased political pressure over their coverage of various issues.
A blogger, Jean Assy, was recently sentenced to two months in jail for insulting the president on Twitter, while Bassil is currently suing this publication over allegations of malpractice.
Bazzi himself recently tweeted that he had been called in for interrogation by the “cyber crimes office” over a blogpost he wrote.
“I got a call from cyber crimes office requesting me for interrogation tomorrow because of a blog post I published a ew months ago #Lebanon“. Imad Bazzi (@TrellaLB) March 12, 2014
At one point, Sadek sarcastically implores Bazzi to be a “responsible journalist” and not discuss such controversial topics.
After 7 minutes, Bazzi agrees that there is nothing left to discuss and the show is called to a close. The screen then reads: “This is our screen image as they like it,” with the “they like it” crossed out in red and replaced by “we reject it.”
You can watch the whole video below (in Arabic).
السياسية لا عن حزب الله و السلاح … أحسن شي مسكر ألهوا و هيدا اللي عملنا . حلقة نهاركم سعيد أخدت ٥ دقائق اليوم … احلى شي ! يرجى اكبر عدد من الشيرز تضامنا مع حرية الاعلام
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