This book presents an analysis of the current Lebanese media system. From a theoretical angle, it discusses the extent to which this system can be analyzed using the ideal types put forth by Hallin and Mancini in their seminal work Comparing Media Systems. Sarah El-Richani assesses the complex dimensions developed by the two scholars and utilizes their work as inspiration for a process of remodeling, amending the sub-indicators to identify salient factors and suggesting a new model. Featuring the views of over 60 stakeholders, this book gives a rare, critical, and concise account of the Lebanese media system.
The South Lebanon conflict saw two decades of sustained resistance by the Lebanese to the Israeli occupation. The Lebanese media's role in achieving liberation over this period is significant, through campaigns conducted to unify the Lebanese people against their foreign occupier and in support of the Lebanese resistance in South Lebanon. This book investigates the culture and performance of Lebanese journalism in this setting. It is a story about journalism told by a journalist who is also using tools of scholarship and research to narrate her story and the story of her fellow journalists. Zahera Harb is also presenting here an alternative interpretation of propaganda under conditions of foreign occupation and the struggle against that occupation. She identifies the characteristics of 'liberation propaganda' through the coverage and experience of the two Lebanese TV stations Tele Liban and Al Manar within the historical, cultural, organisational and religious contexts in which they operated, and how these elements shaped their professional practice and their news values.
Lebanese society is famously, and even notoriously, fragmented, along both class and sectarian lines. Here, Nabil Dajani looks at how this societal division impacts on the nature of the mass media in Lebanon. Implementing the wider theory that the structure and content of mass media is unique to the society within which it operates, he looks at how Lebanese media have often helped to sustain the sectarian divisions within Lebanese society. Dealing with newspapers, radio and television as well as new and emerging forms of communication, such as the internet, social media websites and blogs, he examines how the media both reflect societal realties as well as the ways they influence social consciousness. Beginning with an analysis of the socio-political context of modern-day Lebanon, Dajani critically examines the historical and current realities of the media in this country.
Long before Mexico, Colombia, and Afghanistan became notorious for their contributions to the global drug traffic, Lebanon was a special target of U.S. drug agents for harboring the world's greatest single transit port in the international traffic in narcotics. In the words of one American official, "certain of the largest traffickers are so influential politically, and certain highly placed officials so deeply involved in the narcotic traffic, that one might well state that the Lebanese Government is in the narcotics business." Using previously secret government records, The Lebanese Connection uncovers for the first time the story of how Lebanon's economy and political system were corrupted by drug profits—and how, by financing its many ruthless militia, Lebanon's drug trade contributed to the country's greatest catastrophe, its fifteen-year civil war from 1975 to 1990. In so doing, this book sheds new light on the dangerous role of vast criminal enterprises in the collapse of states and the creation of war economies that thrive in the midst of civil conflicts. Taking a regional approach to the drug issue, Jonathan Marshall assesses the culpability of Syria, Israel, and of Palestinian factions and other groups that used Lebanon as their battleground. On the international level, he documents Lebanon's contribution to the hard drug problem of major consuming countries, from the days of the "French Connection" through the "Pizza Connection," as well as Lebanon's unrivaled place in the global hashish market.
This volume provides a comparative analysis of media systems in the Arab world, based on criteria informed by the historical, political, social, and economic factors influencing a country’s media. Reaching beyond classical western media system typologies, Arab Media Systems brings together contributions from experts in the field of media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to provide valuable insights into the heterogeneity of this region’s media systems. It focuses on trends in government stances towards media, media ownership models, technological innovation, and the role of transnational mobility in shaping media structure and practices. Each chapter in the volume traces a specific country’s media – from Lebanon to Morocco – and assesses its media system in terms of historical roots, political and legal frameworks, media economy and ownership patterns, technology and infrastructure, and social factors (including diversity and equality in gender, age, ethnicities, religions, and languages). This book is a welcome contribution to the field of media studies, constituting the only edited collection in recent years to provide a comprehensive and systematic overview of Arab media systems. As such, it will be of great use to students and scholars in media, journalism and communication studies, as well as political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists with an interest in the MENA region.
This book examines the legacy of Lebanon’s civil war and how the population, and the youth in particular, are dealing with their national past. Drawing on extensive qualitative research and social observation, the author explores the efforts of those who wish to remember, so as not to repeat past mistakes, and those who wish to forget. In considering how the Lebanese youth are negotiating this collective memory, Larkin addresses issues of: Lebanese post-war amnesia and the gradual emergence of new memory discourses and public debates Lebanese nationalism and historical memory visual memory and mnemonic landscapes oral memory and post-war narratives war memory as an agent of ethnic conflict and a tool for reconciliation and peace-building. trans-generational trauma or postmemory. Shedding new light on trauma and the persistence of ethnic and religious hostility, this book offers a unique insight into Lebanon’s recurring communal tensions and a fresh perspective on the issue of war memory. As such, this is an essential addition to the existing literature on Lebanon and will be relevant for scholars of sociology, Middle East studies, anthropology, politics and history.
This handbook provides the first comprehensive reference book in English about the development of mass and social media in all Arab countries. Capturing the historical as well as current developments in the media scene, this collection maps the role of media in social and political movements. Contributors include specialists in the field from North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Each chapter provides an overview of the history, regulatory frameworks and laws governing the press, and socio-political functions of the media. While the geopolitical complexities of the region have been reflected in the expert analyses collectively, the focus is always the local context of each member state. All 38 chapters consider the specific historical, political, and media trajectories in each country, to provide a contextual background and foundation for further study about single states or comparative analysis in two or more Arab states. Capturing significant technological developments and the widespread use of social media, this all-inclusive volume on Arab media is a key resource for students and scholars interested in journalism, media, and Middle East studies.
In October 2019, hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Lebanon to protest austerity measures in what became known as the “thawra.” These were the largest mass protests seen in the country's modern history. The Lebanon Uprising of 2019 puts the revolution in its historical and regional context and also follows the huge transformations that have been unraveling in Lebanon ever since. The book is a unique source of testimonies that brings to the fore the voices of those scholars, activists, researchers, and journalists who took part in the protests or were closely involved in the unfolding events. These accounts include stories about specific events and struggles, views of the uprising from various regions of the country, and reflections on topics such as the labor struggle, disability, the student movement, foreign interventions, the struggle for preserving environmental spaces, the role of refugees and non-Lebanese within the movement, and women and queer participation. The book situates the protests within the historical, political, economic, social, and environmental foundations of the Lebanese polity, as well as in the broader context of a "second wave” of Arab uprisings and a global wave of upheavals in 2019, making this book a testament to the rich history of protests and activism in the country. It features some primary documents, including photos and other materials that were disseminated in the streets and over social media platforms, making this book an important resource of first-hand knowledge.
This book examines Lebanese political parties and their encounters with modernity. Taking three, mainly Christian parties as an example, the book refutes the idea of Middle Eastern parties being backwards or antiquated. By combining historical and anthropological perspectives, it is shown that these parties stand for normativities of modernity. Lebanese, as well as Middle Eastern parties in general, have a rather poor reputation: they are considered family-based, ideologically meaningless, tailored solely to their leadership, and non-modern. Contrastingly, this book claims that the concept of the "real party" corresponds to an encounter with modernity and that these parties, although dysfunctional in parts, are better than their reputation. Most importantly, Lebanese parties are taking the nation-state as their central reference point, as they recognise it as the legitimate form of societal organization. The volume claims that important constituents of modernity, such as the individual, the nation, secularity, progress, and representing the people (demos), serve for the parties in question as resources of utopian elements informing much of these parties’ identities. Bringing Lebanese political parties into a global debate on modernity, the book tackles the notion of parties of the Middle East being non-modern. It will be of interest to scholars researching political science, political history and the Middle East.
This second edition of a collection of essays reports on how new media-fax machines, satellite television and the Internet - and the new uses of older media-cassettes, pulp fiction, the cinema, the telephone and the press - shape belief, authority and community in the Muslim world. The chapters in this work, including new chapters dealing specifically with events after September 11, 2001, concern Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, the Arabian Peninsula, and Muslim communities in the United States and elsewhere. The book suggests new ways of looking at the social organization of communications and the shifting links among media of various kinds in local and transnational contexts. The extent to which today's new media have transcended local and state frontiers and have reshaped understanding of gender, authority, social justice, identities and politics in Muslim societies emerges from this work.
