Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
is not only a regional center of media production but also the most liberal and free in the Middle East. Despite its small population and geographic size, Lebanon plays an influential role in the production of information in the Middle East and is "at the core of a regional media network with global implications".
News agencies
Lebanon has two state-owned news agencies.
The National News Agency (NNA) was launched in 1964 and publishes news in Arabic and English.
The number of NNA subscribers was about 600 in 1974.
[ Al-Markazia, known in English as the Central News Agency, publishes only in Arabic.][
]
Press
The history of publishing in Lebanon dates back to 1610 when the first printing press was established at the Convent of Saint Anthony of Qozhaya
Qozhaya ( syr, ܕܝܪܐ ܕܡܪܝ ܐܢܛܘܢܝܘܣ ܩܘܙܚܝܐ, ar, دير مار أنطونيوس قزحيا), also transliterated Qazahya is located in the Zgharta District in the North Governorate of Lebanon. It belongs to the Lebanese Maron ...
in the Kadisha Valley
Kadisha Valley ( ar, وادي قاديشا), also romanized as the Qadisha Valley and also known as the Kadisha Gorge or Wadi Kadisha (french: Ouadi Qadisha), is a gorge that lies within the Bsharri and Zgharta Districts of the North Governora ...
, making its first publication, ''Qozhaya Psalter'' -the Bible's book of psalms, which was in both Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
and Arabic, the first publication in the Middle East. One of the first Arabic-script, printing presses in the region was founded in 1734 at The Convent of St. John in Khinshara where it remained in operation until 1899.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Beirut had become not only a multi-religious, commercial center but also an intellectual one, especially after the establishment of two private, higher education institutes, the American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
in 1864 and the Saint Joseph University
Saint Joseph University of Beirut ( French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', abbreviated to and commonly known as "USJ") is a private Catholic research university located in Beirut, Lebanon, which was founded in 1875 by French Jesuit mis ...
in 1875, and it was this period that marked the emergence of Beirut's prolific press. Lebanese publishers and journalists, along with Syrians, also played a major role in establishing the Egyptian press in the nineteenth century.
After independence, Beirut emerged as the epicenter of publishing in the Arab world, characterized by free and liberal media and literary scenes.[Migliorino, p. 123] In the 1940s, Beirut was home to 39 newspapers as well as 137 periodicals and journals that were published in three languages. Beirut also hosted the first book fair in the Arab world in 1956. By the early sixties, there were close to a hundred publishers and more than 250 printing presses in Lebanon. Armenian publications also flourished in Beirut with over 44 publications, including dailies and periodicals. In 1962 the press law came into effect which was introduced by President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Fuad Chebab. As of September 2013, the law still regulates printed media in the country.[
Authors from Syria, Palestine and elsewhere in the Arab world found refuge in Lebanon's free and liberal publishing industry.] Lebanon's press became a huge industry despite the country's small size and has remained a haven for Arabic publishing. The establishment of modern printing presses and sophisticated book distribution channels made Beirut a regional publishing leader, and gave the Lebanese publishers a dominant role in Arab publishing. Lebanon hosts annually two important regional publishing events, the Beirut Book Fair and the Beirut Francophone Book Fair.
Television
Television in Lebanon
Television in Lebanon arose as a private initiative and not a state-institution. Lebanon was the first country in the Middle East & the Arab world to have indigenous television broadcasting.''Gale Encyclopedia of the Mideast & N. Africa: Radio and ...
was introduced in 1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
, with the launch of two privately owned stations, CLT and Télé Orient that merged in 1977 into Télé Liban
Télé Liban (also known as TL, ar, تلفزيون لبنان) is the first Lebanese public television network, owned by the Lebanese government. It was a result of a merger of the privately run Compagnie Libanaise de Télévision (CLT) (channe ...
. Lebanon has ten national television channels, with most being affiliated or supported by certain political parties or alliances. One of the latest addition is Al Mayadeen
Al Mayadeen (Arabic: الميادين; The Plazas) is a pan-Arabist satellite news television channel launched on 11 June 2012 in Beirut, Lebanon. Its programming is predominantly news. It has news reporters in most Arab countries. In the pan-Ara ...
, which is close to Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
, and it was launched on 11 June 2012 in Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
.
Radio
There are many private radio stations in the country. Two of the leading stations are BBC Arabic
BBC Arabic ( ar, بي بي سي عربي) may refer to the Literary Arabic language radio station run by the BBC World Service, as well as the BBC's satellite TV channel, and the website that serves as an Literary Arabic language news portal an ...
and Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...
.[ In addition, local stations People’s Voice and Lebanon Voice are also popular radio outlets.
]
Internet
Lebanon was one of the first countries in the Arabic-speaking world to introduce internet and Beirut's newspapers were the first in the region to provide readers with web versions of their newspapers. By 1996, three newspapers from Lebanon were online, ''Al Anwar
''Al Anwar'' ( ar, الانوار, lit=The Lights) was an Arabic daily newspaper published in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded in 1959 and was one of the leading dailies in Lebanon.
In October 2018, the publisher Dar Assayad announced ceasing of ...
'', ''An Nahar
''An-Nahar'' ( ar, النهار, lit=The Day or The Morning) is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Lebanon. In the 1980s, ''An-Nahar'' was described by the ''New York Times'' and ''Time Magazine'' as the newspaper of record fo ...
'', and ''Assafir
''As-Safir'' ( ar, السفير, lit=The Ambassador), was a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily was in Beirut. It was in circulation from March 1974 until December 2016. The last issue of the paper wa ...
'', and by 2000, more than 200 websites provided news out of Lebanon like the leadin
Daily Beirut
news portal.[ Internet penetration from 2013 to 2016 has increased rapidly in Lebanon. Use of social media platforms like Facebook has seen growth and has been highest in the Middle East as 77% for Lebanon in 2017. As per August 2017, there are around 3.4 Million users on Facebook from Lebanon. The Instagram count is 1.3 Million. This has also given rise to the concept of Internet celebrities in Lebanon like Karter Zaher (rapper), Laila Mourad (lifestyle vlogger), Adeela (Satirical page with unknown Admin), Said Mhamad (Photographer),] Khaled Mohamad Ali ( known as Khaledjali, a street style influence
See also
* Telecommunications in Lebanon Posts and telecommunications have long played an essential role in Lebanon, a small country with an expansive diaspora, a vivid media landscape, and an economy geared toward trade and banking. The sector's history has nonetheless been chaotic, marke ...
* Federation of Arab News Agencies
The Federation of Arab News Agencies (FANA), a branch of the Arab League, is a membership organization for Arabic-language, national news agencies, currently of 18 or 19 members
and established in 1975 in Beirut, Lebanon.
Mission
FANA's missi ...
(FANA)
References
{{Authority control
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...