The Myth of Media Freedom in Lebanon

Abstract

In the late 1970s, efforts to establish a more equal and balanced flow of information and communication between developed and developing nations were embodied in the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). Supported and promoted by UNESCO, its recommendations were adopted by the UN general assembly. Although not legally binding and far from implementation, the US withdrew from UNESCO over the issue, claiming that NWICO sought to restrict freedom of the press through regulation. This example of the West protecting the rights of corporate media and private sector dominance of the flow of communication brings to mind the history of media and mass communications in Lebanon where a uniquely unequal and imbalanced flow of information exists to serve mostly corporate and sectarian interests in the name of freedom of the media.