VZCZCXRO3406
OO RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHKUK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHLB #0143 0360646
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 050646Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4149
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3434
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 3639
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA PRIORITY

UNCLAS BEIRUT 000143 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA - LAWSON, NEA/ELA - IRWIN, NEA/PPD, R, 
INR/R/MR, INR-PARENT, DRL 
NSC - MCDERMOTT 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL KMDR OPRC KPAO KISL KPAL LE
SUBJECT:  Media Ethics in the Lebanese Media 
 
1.(U)  Summary: Internews Network, an international media 
development organization funded by a Bureau of Democracy, Human 
Rights and Labor grant, organized a roundtable for five local civil 
society organizations to discuss the role of media in Lebanon's 
civil society.  The roundtable attendees were sub-grantees carrying 
out projects highlighting media's influence on youth and impact on 
good governance. One of Internews' projects is "Communicating to 
Humanity: Media and Civil Society in Support of Lebanon's 
Reconciliation."  End Summary. 
 
2.(U)  Present at the roundtable were:  The Development Studies 
Center, Beit El Tourath (The house of traditions), Youth for 
Tolerance, Baldati (my hometown), the Lebanese Civic Media 
Initiative, and the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections. 
All discussed their individual projects and whether the Lebanese 
media played a positive or negative role in strengthening the role 
eacj tries to play through their projects.  The media's role in 
promoting awareness, capacity building, democracy, and eventually 
reconciliation among Lebanon's divided population were also 
explored. 
 
3.(U)  One common element stood out in the conclusions that were 
reached by most of the presenters:  Lebanese media has played, and 
is still playing, an extremely negative role in Lebanon's civil 
society. By simply ignoring, belittling, or politicizing civil 
society issues, the Lebanese media automatically prioritizes issues 
that are a source of friction and are dividing Lebanese society. 
The representative of the Development Studies Center, for example, 
clarified that during the terrible clashes in the city of Tripoli in 
the North, the media seemed to incite and provoke additional 
problems by focusing on sectarian divisions instead of the real 
developmental problems in that region. 
 
4.(U)  Civil society organizations are keen on working to create a 
society that understands the influence of institutions like media 
outlets on public opinion.  These organizations want the media to be 
accountable.  For example, universities with journalism majors 
should be encouraged to teach individuals how to be research 
journalists who depend on credible facts and not on sensationalist 
sectarian information.  The organizations want to separate between 
societal issues and political issues; and, laws should be created to 
support media ethics.  If Lebanese media outlets have societal 
problems as the priority rather than political issues, the civil 
society organizations think Lebanese reconciliation is possible. 
 
Sison