Background
Lebanon is known officially as the Lebanese Republic and it is located in the Region of Western Asia on the Eastern Shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon is bordered to the south by Israel while to the north and the east by Syria. In the year 1942, Lebanon initiated a political system which had a unique outlook and this system was known as confessionalism which was strongly based on a mechanism of power-sharing on the community base.
This system was a creation of the French ruling whose mandatory powers extended the borders of the preceding Mount Lebanon which was highly populated by the Maronite Catholics and the Druze. It is important to note that Lebanon is the ancient home of the Phoenicians which had greatly prospered as a maritime civilization for over three thousands years. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed after First World War, there were five provinces which were mandated to France and one of them was the present day Lebanon. After the country got its independence in the years 1943, three years later the troops from France withdrew in the year 1946.
There was the Lebanese Civil War that went from the year 1975 to the year 1990 and before this period, the country was relatively successful and stable with an economy that was driven by banking, agriculture and tourism. Even today, the country is considered to be one of the banking hubs of the Western Asia region and this can be evidenced by the fact that during the periods before the civil war in 1975, the country was regarded as the Switzerland of the region.
The tourism sector was also very thriving and this can also be evidenced by the fact that during the period before the civil war, Beirut, the Lebanese capital was regarded as the Paris of the region. Immediately after the civil war in the year 1990, the country undertook a rigorous effort restore the stability of the government as well as the revival of the economy and also the rebuilding of the infrastructure in the country.
This period of reconstruction continued until the year 2006, when the efforts of reconstruction were hindered by the war between Hezbollah and Israel. It is important to note that the reconstruction had been very successful and the tourism industry was also starting to pick up when the war erupted and this resulted in the destruction of the country’s infrastructure as well as causing a significant amount of civilian deaths. This war lasted for a month but the effect will be felt for a number of years. However, the country has been able to stabilize politically as well as revive the economy.
Introduction
Media is a very integral part in any democracy and this is also true in post-communist countries like Lebanon and a contingent of other countries which had adopted the communist or other types of governance. Media ensures that the society has access to information and this is considered very vital for the well being of democracy and this can be seen from two phases; one phase is that it enables the citizens of a given country to make choices that are out of responsibility and information rather than the citizens making choices on an ignorant and misinformed basis.
The second phase is that information that is afforded to the citizens by the media is very important in acting as a checking function whereby the people who are elected into office are constantly under check to see if they uphold their promises when entering the office and also to see if the wishes of the electorate is adhered to by the representatives (Hollis, 236).
In many societies in the world, there exist a not very cordial relationship between the government and the media and this can be seen as a representation of an element which is very healthy of a democracy which is fully functioning. In a society where there have been conflicts or there exist an ethnically homogenous cultures a good example being a conflictual or a tensionridden societies, this kind of relationship is not very appropriate although primarily, the body of media when disseminating information especially in such a way that the media acts as a mediator between the civil society and the state and this is very critical for democracy (Gunther, 123).
Media also extends beyond various functional parts of democracy and governance. A good example is where media plays a very vital role in such issues as anti-corruption, decentralization, and policy process and citizen participation. Media also is very instrumental in supporting institutionalization of the rule of law and this can be achieved if the country allows the media to be in constant check of the judicial system of the country, court reporting and also the government promoting an environment whereby there is legal framework that enables the freedom of press.
The media is also very important in that it facilitates and ensures that there is a free and fair election in a given country and this elections must be conducted through processes which are transparent as well as ensuring that all the candidates involved in a particular election have equal access and also the media reports all the relevant issues in an objective and timely mode (Casmir, 98).
It is important to note that everybody in the world has the right to freedom of expression and opinion and these rights are inclusive of the freedom to without interference to hold opinion and also the right to find receive and also share information and also notions through any form of media frontiers not withstanding. In relation to democratization, the society should ensure that the government is not in any way hindering the activities of the press or controlling the press and this also applies that the media should not be controlled by any private enterprises. In fact, the media should be moving from being controlled to a media fraternity which is more open and the editorial independence is to a very high degree that is in respect with the public interest (Sükösd, 123).
If at all the media is to play any important role in democratization, then the media should have the objective of assisting in the creation of mediums which are diverse that allows credible voices to be heard and also the media should strengthen the sector that is primarily concerned in the promotion of such outlets of credible voices. If there is the existence of credible outlets, then the masses are given an opportunity to get information that they need to remain informed and also to make informed decisions and also enhance their societal participation (Petkovic, 149).
A media which is seen to be supporting democratization of any country is one that is given editorial independence, has plural and diverse voices, is viable in financial terms and also serves the interest of the public. In serving the interest of the public, it is important to note that the definition of the public interest is caught clearly by the definition of representation of diverse and plural voices through a large number of outlets and also through the diversification of the voices and the views that are reflected in a given outlet (Sükösd, 123).
Politics in Lebanon
Lebanon has been a parliamentary democracy with a confessionalism outlook. Confessionalism is a form of democracy whereby conscociationalism is very evident and this means that the government offices are reserved for the representatives from various religious communities. The constitution of the country has given the citizens the right to change the government through an election. However, this changed in 1992 after the country erupted into a civil war after the general elections. There are various parties in the country and they include Future Movement, Progressive socialist Party, Lebanese Forces, Hope Movement, Party of God, Skaff Bloc among various other parties in the country. However, the parties have formed a trend of merging and forming alliances during the elections.
Media and democratization in Lebanon
There is a good framework of media in the country but it has been under attack from various political quarters. One of the major types of media is the television network and this has not been spared either by the political nature of the country. This is because many television networks in the country are either controlled by political parties or are entirely owned by political parties. This means that the political role of media in democratization of the country has been marred by the political nature of the country.
There exist various television stations in the country and they include such stations as Al Jadeed which was forced to quit broadcasting after revealing a relationship between the country’s government and the government of Saudi Arabia. Another station is the Al Manar which offers quality news to the country. However, it is also controlled politically and religiously and has been promoting the concepts of Jihad and resistance. This is just a show of how the media fraternity in the country is affecting the democratization of the country.
There are various types of media in Lebanon and it is important to note that most of the media in the country use Arabic as their broadcast language. This can be attributed to the fact that the country’s official language is Arabic. However, there are some media that use English and French as their broadcast language. The major type of media in the country is newspapers and they include such newspapers as Al-Anwar, Al Intiqad and Al Massira which use Arabic as their language. Lebanon Daily Star and Monday Morning are newspapers that use the English Language while Orient Le Jour and Revue de Liban are newspapers that use French as their language. There also exists a website by the name Lebanese Force which uses both English and Arabic as their language.
Another important concept is that of the media and religion concerning the issue of democratization. It is important to note that the country is of Muslim majority and this has had a very high impact on the role of media and democratization. This can be attributed to the fact that Muslims have always viewed democracy with suspicion and they view it as being enforced by the Western countries whereby they refer the western countries as infidels. The media has been greatly influenced by the religious and political nature of the country and this has had a negative impact on democratization of the country. Many media companies that are affiliated with religion and controlled by the political parties broadcast news that promotes such things as resistance and Jihad.
In the recent past, the country has been torn apart by conflict and also the fact that Hezbollah, a movement that is from the region used the country as the fighting ground with Israel. Hezbollah has been said to have controlled the media in the kind of news they broadcasted and this means that the media system of the country could not be very well be able to play a role in the democratization of the country.
The government also had resulted to intimidate and imprison journalists who went ahead and reported matters to the public that the government was not comfortable with. This had a very negative impact on the role of the media in democratizing the country. There have also been a number of assassinations which could be seen as a result some quarters hindering democracy. Those assassinated included media personnel such as anchors, journalists and reporters as well as politicians who were supporting the democratization process of the country.
Press freedom is also very repressed in the country and the media does not have the necessary say in the matters that involve the ruling of the country. This has been enforced by various political parties and the government intimidating the media and also threatening them with legal actions which cannot be said to be democratic. There have also been a number of imprisonments of the media personnel who sought to give information to the people on the matters of how the people are badly ruled.
Traditionally, Lebanon was enjoying a democratic system which had a confessional outlook. Despite the fact that the population was very diverse, the country prided itself as having an environment of democracy and there was the outlook of equity and there were feelings in the country that freedom and democracy were indispensable in the system of politics in the country and this were the reasons why the country was very stable politically back then.
This was further enhanced by the signing of the new Lebanese constitution in the year 1926 and the new constitution was based on the French ideologies of equality and freedom among the subjects of the country. Today, there is a very large number of political parties in the country are active although many of the parties forms coalitions with other parties that have the same interests. It is important to note that there exist a large number of political parties which have varying ideologies in the country. However, there is a tendency for some government seats which are high profile to be preserved for some sects but this does not hinder the strong competition that is evident between different parties and candidates and this is mostly in elections (O’Neil, 503).
Media has played a very important role in the democratization of the country and one of the ways that it has helped in the democratization is the fact that it has been very instrumental in the dissemination of information to the people of Lebanon. This has ensured that the people of Lebanon are an informed lot who make decision based on the grounds that they are informed and hence they can participate fully in the activities that are related to the civil society (Paletz, 196).
This is one of the reasons that the media in Lebanon has been very instrumental in the democratization of the country. It is important to note that the country was involved in a civil war from the year 1975 to the year 1990 and if democracy would not play a very important role in the reconstruction of the country after the destruction that was left behind by civil war, then in the future the country faced the risk of going back to the civil war again.
However, the media promoted democracy and this ensured that the country was fully reconstructed and its main economical activities were coming back to normal and this would have continued were it not for the offensive between the Hezbollah and Israel which resulted in the destruction of the countries infrastructure as well as the interruption in the economic activities of the country. However, since the country was democratic after the cease fire called upon by the United Nations Security Council, the country was quick to go back to reconstruction (Linz, 153).
Media has also played a major role in the democratization of the country because it has been the subject of highlighting some of the most important aspects of governance in the country. It has been noted that the media is very influential in ensuring that the Lebanese governance is in line with democratic needs. This can be in relation to such issues as the judicial system of the Lebanon where the media has been reporting on various matters of justice and this means that the country can rely on the media to ensure that democracy is still going the major political ideology in the country (Gunther, 123).
Media has also been very important in the highlighting of the various political parties of Lebanon. The media has ensured that every party is given a substantial amount of publicity so that the people of Lebanon can at least be aware of the parties’ manifesto. The media has also been very important in advocating for free and fair elections in the country and this means that the media fraternity country is well equipped with all the resources of ensuring that the elections are held in a transparent and free way so. The media has also been very instrumental in ensuring that various candidates of the government offices in Lebanon are also well publicized to give equal opportunity to every candidate as well as ensuring that all the interested people take the opportunity to be elected into any office (Casmir, 98).
The Lebanese media has also been very important in highlighting some issues of governance which are not desirable in the eyes of the public. This means that the various vices of the government such as corruption, graft, mismanagement of public resources and misrepresentation are highlighted by the media and this ensures that the Lebanese government is always under constant check. This is very important in ensuring that the government is performing in its peak and this is good for the country’s development in terms of economical and political development. It is also important to note that the government becoming aware that the country’s media is acting as a watchdog for the citizens will try to be as efficient as possible and hence the media in its advocacy for democracy ensures that the Lebanese government is very efficient in its deliverance of services to the people (Milton, 402).
The media in Lebanon has also been functions as a constant checker for the representatives of the people. This means that the media has been highlighting some of the most high ranking officials in terms of their service delivery to the citizens and this has been very important in ensuring that the Lebanese people receives the best services from the government. Apart from checking on the representative, the media is also on the look out for the government institutions and their service delivery to the people. This means that the media is very important in ensuring that the governmental institutions offer the citizens the best services possible and this is very important in the democratization of any society in the world (Paletz, 196).
The media has also played a major role in ensuring that the masses in Lebanon are informed of the happenings in the other parts of the world and this means that the people are informed of what other countries are experiencing in terms of democracy and governance (Sükösd, 123). This has been greatly enhanced by the fact that there is international media presence in the country and also the country uses various languages to ensure that the biggest majority of the Lebanese people are fully informed. This is very instrumental in democratization of other societies because the people of Lebanon can find other societies democracy level and they can also have a say in what kind of leadership the country should adopt. This is very important and beneficial to the citizens.
The media is also very vocal in the promotion of the individual rights and freedoms in Lebanon and this is despite the fact that the government would like to inhibit the rights of the people to ensure that if they exploit the people, they will find little resistance. However, the media has been very vocal in ensuring that the people are fully educated of their rights and that the government protects the individual rights and freedoms that the constitution affords the people (Diamond, 189).
The media is also very important in ensuring that the rule of law is institutionalized and this means that the rule of laws is recognized as an independent entity and that the judicial system of the country recognizes the need to uphold the rule of law. This means that the media has played a very important part in ensuring that the government of Lebanon and in particular the judicial system respects the rule of law (Kaid, 302).
Problems that is faced by the media in its bid to promote democracy in Lebanon
Like many other countries where they have been a number of conflicts in the near past or a number of conflicts after the Second World War, the media fraternity in the country has faced some serious problems in its efforts of promoting democracy in Lebanon. It is important to note that after gaining independence from France in the year 1943 and the ultimate moving out of the French troops in the year 1946, the country was involved in a civil war that run for fifteen years from 1975 to 1990. Apart from that there was the issue of the controversy between Israel and Hezbollah and this offensive left the economy of the country in utter destruction.
This means that the country has been in a number of problems as well as conflicts in its past and the destruction of the economy has ensured that many media houses in the country cannot access sufficient funding (Paletz, 196).
The media has faced a lot of problems and one of the most imminent problems is that it has been controlled by the government in various instances. For example, the government would control the media in some times when the dissemination of the information would have jeopardized the country’s security and this is not a good way of governance and hence the need for the government to ensure that in the future the control of the media is not under its hand but should instead introduce regulatory policies for the media (Kelly, 256).
The other problem that the media fraternity in the country has faced is that it has been adversely affected by a number of conflicts that have been noted in the country and this includes the infrastructure and technology that has been used by the media being destroyed in these conflicts. A good example is the offensive between Israel and Hezbollah which left a good portion of the infrastructure and technology used by the media being fully destroyed (Gunther, 123).
Anther problem is the fact that the funding of the media fraternity of the country is very weak and hence the lack of adequate resources and equipments to further the interest of the people. With this limited funding and limited facilities, the media’s endeavor to ensure that the people of Lebanon are fully aware of the importance of democratic leadership is inhibited and this means that the government needs to chip in where the media fraternity in the country needs assistances. Many newspapers in the country cannot have sufficient funds to run and this is made worse by the fact that the government does not offer funding for the media in Lebanon (Diamond, 189).
Barriers to the media achieving its roles
There are various barriers that hinder the media in Lebanon to play a very big part in the democratization of the country. One of the barriers is that the country being faced with economic hardships after the civil war and also after the war between Israel and Hezbollah, the country has been viewed as a hostile country and hence many media fraternities in the world have neglected this areas as being able to democratize and this can be rooted to the fact that they think the country has other pressing matters that need to be addressed first.
The fact that a country is undergoing democratization is enough to ensure that the internal media is supported by other media fraternities in the world and this is very important in ensuring that the country adopts the desirable leadership styles that is very instrumental in ensuring that the country is fully democratized (Paletz, 196).
Another barrier is that with a lot of war being experienced in the region, the media is also held at ransom and this can be attributed to the fact that the warring factors want to control as large territories as they can and this means controlling all the systems in the region.
Lebanon has been in the mid of many regional conflicts and this have ensured that the country has been adversely affected by this trend. It is also important to note that since the country has its own violent history, the media cannot fully instill in the people the need for the country to adopt democratic characteristics especially when they are sure that they can be attacked and hence the government has the responsibility of ensuring that it governs as it wills to ensure that public safety comes first. This means that the government has the power to control the media (Casmir, 98).
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