Middle East and North Africa

Internews Network Promotes Media Transparency and Responsiveness to Citizen’s Needs through Local Civil Society in Lebanon

In May 2008, Lebanon witnessed a violent political conflict that eventually led to the end of a 17-month long political paralysis and the election of a new President.  In the wake of the conflict and in the few months that followed, Internews Network launched five civil society projects in Lebanon to promote media as a tool for reconciliation and development. The projects were launched under a small grants program, which is a component of Internews’ project, “Communicating to Humanity: Media and Civil Society in Support of Lebanon’s Reconciliation.”

The five projects, located in Beirut and its suburbs, focus on community reporting, youth involvement, online media tools, information technology, and media for development.
Today as Lebanon prepares for Parliamentary elections in the midst of intense political tensions, the success of these five groups can help address post-conflict political polarization and regional development challenges and put freedom of access to media at the forefront of Lebanon’s democratic development.

Internews Network Supports Youth Community Newsletter in Tripoli

Tripoli is the second largest city in Lebanon located on the Northern coast and combines a large number of economically marginalized and diverse sectarian villages. The last two years witnessed violent clashes in the North between mainstream Sunnis and Alawites.

Local community leader, Dr. Wafaa Chaarani of the Tripoli-based Development Studies Center, has launched a project with Internews Network bringing together five Sunni and five Alawite youth to be trained in investigative reporting. This process helps them to better understand the background and causes of the violence that they witness on a daily basis.  These youth grow to understand that the conflict is largely caused by dire economic conditions which in turn lead to poverty, isolationism and anger. Ultimately, these teens will create a local newsletter which will report on their findings and explain their improved understanding of the conflict of their region. Chaarani firmly believes that the unbiased voice of local youth can change hearts and minds.

Internews Network Promotes Online Forum for Young Activists and Writers

Lebanon’s war with Israel in 2006 not only led to a great deal of destruction and devastation to Lebanon’s economic and other infrastructure but it also resulted in emotional trauma and anger across the country. Elie Awad, founder of Youth for Tolerance (Y4T), saw a need to diffuse this anger by “promoting understanding and tolerance for diversity.”  Through a series of workshops in schools and summer camps Y4T teaches students about conflict and conflict resolution. These interactive modules are targeted towards 16-22 year old students. With the help of Internews Network, Y4T recently launched an online forum monitored by these trained youth and seeking to engage Lebanese youth from across the country in discussing the conflict in a peaceful way.  

With outreach in the North, South and Mount Lebanon, Y4T promotes the forum as a space for communication during the upcoming Parliamentary elections. The Internews grant is helping build their capacity as they prepare for municipal and district elections in 2010.
“We want to see what users are most interested in, channel young people’s talent in taking pictures and using new media tools such as cellular phones to report on their community issues,” said Awad. Y4T envisions the platform ultimately developing into an independent entity managed directly by the youth themselves.

Internews Network Introduces New Media Tools for Development

In Lebanon, digital activism is on the rise. A large number of Lebanese civil society organizations have opened accounts on various social-networking sites, such as YouTube and are using them to expand their message and reach a global audience. Chaker Noun is the founder and director of Baldati, a Lebanese NGO that connects people from communities all around Lebanon by advertising local programs, events, clubs and professional groups on a website called Baldati.com.

Baldati now wants to move from static to more dynamic website content. Through a grant with Internews Network, Baldati will launch a pilot web-casting project, called “B-Tube,” as an addition to their website. Baldati has purchased the necessary equipment to be distributed to the NGO’s village coordinators. The coordinators will be trained on the use of equipment, web-casting and investigative journalism to post their stories on three Lebanese villages chosen as a sample of economically marginalized communities where conflict resolution and conflict transformation become critical for peace and coexistence.

Internews Network Launches First Media Monitor in the Middle East

Lebanon’s history and current events are dominated by recurring cycles of violence. In the wake of the last conflict and following the Doha agreement which ended the 18-month political deadlock, a group of young activists reflected on the role of the media during this conflict. The Lebanese media was accused of playing the role of the instigator by aligning itself with narrow sectarian interests that eventually led to the violent conflict.

With the support of Internews Network, Wissam founded The Lebanese Civic Media Initiative (LCMI). LCMI is working towards advancing human rights and civil peace in Lebanon through the media by advocating for quality journalism. In an effort to track, analyze and highlight hate incitement in Lebanese media outlets, LCMI has created an online media monitor. The media monitor is used to highlight cases of hate incitement by all political actors and then use this evidence to make viable recommendations to media practitioners.
LCMI researcher Karim Mufti explains that “Lebanon is unique in the Arab world because it allows journalists to freely express themselves. Our aim is not to repress this right but to enable the public to identify the thin line between the freedom to attack political opponents and inciting hatred among Lebanese communities.”

LCMI is launching their monitor as Lebanon prepares for Parliamentary elections. Wissam explained that their neutral approach is key to success. “We now have documented evidence which will enable us to make viable recommendations to media practitioners. This is the value of our project with Internews Network; it has given us solid foundations for future legal work in media and advocacy for pro-human rights media in Lebanon.”

Internews Network Supports Local Community Newsletter in South of Lebanon

Barja is a small town located near Saida on Lebanon’s South coast. Barja suffers from very difficult economic conditions and most of its youth move to the capital Beirut for work. “There is not much to do in Barja,” explains one young student.

Beit El Tourath (“Heritage Home”) is an organization dedicated to preserving Barja’s history and culture though art exhibitions and publications. The organization used to issue a yearly newsletter focusing on Barja’s cultural artifacts and local news but because of financial difficulties, the newsletter has been out of print for several years. Internews Network recently provided funding for Director Mustafa Hajj to re-launch the newsletter with a new focus on youth and women.

Mustafa and his colleagues gathered a group of 15 young writers and social activists from Barja and have trained them in investigative journalism as well as how to develop content and design the newsletter. “Internews has given us a space for our ideas to surface, a platform to discuss problems and make them visible to all of Lebanon,” said Karima Chobbo, a 24 year old trainee.

“Our role cannot be to solve the problems directly,” added twenty-one year old Adham Sayyid. “That is the role of our elected officials. But we want to use this newsletter to raise awareness on the issues that concern and threaten our daily lives. For example, Barja has one of the highest cancer rates in Lebanon because of pollution, bad waste management and electric plants. People are dying and we often hear of amputations. The state needs to see this and our job will be to show it.”

“Communicating to Humanity: Media and Civil Society in Support of Lebanon’s Reconciliation” is funded by the US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.