3 senior journalists IN ‘PRO-HEZBOLLAH’ NEWS PAPER RESIGN AT DAILY’S ANTI-PROTEST STANCE
Tue 05 November 2019:
A prominent “pro-Hezbollah” newspaper has been hit by an exodus of employees over its stance on the anti-government protests that gripped the country since 17 October.
Internal disputes began over disagreements on the newspaper’s editorial line in the coverage of the cross-sectarian protests, local media reported.
Senior economics editor Mohammed Zbib announced on Monday that he had resigned “in protest of the newspaper’s position on the uprising”.
His announcement follows that of journalist Joy Slim, who said on 29 October she has left her post at the newspaper, where she had been for five and a half years.
“The last few days were decisive for me,” Slim said in a Facebook post. “I was disappointed by the newspaper’s coverage of the uprising, which we have worked for months (and perhaps years) building up towards. But, as soon as it happened the newspaper quickly joined the anti-revolution camp, fuelling the streets with conspiracy plots and rumors.”
While the newspaper declares itself as progressive and independent, supporting movements for freedom and social justice, it is perceived as pro-“March 8” – a coalition of political parties in Lebanon, which include Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), both of which are opposed to the current uprising.
Hezbollah held three ministerial posts and a majority with its Christian allies the Free Patriotic Movement before Lebanon’s cabinet fell this week after 13 days of mass anti-graft protests.
It has also been a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the neighbouring country’s eight-year conflict.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his cabinet would step down.
But it is still unclear what a new government will look like and if it will include independent technocrats as demanded by demonstrators.
More than 25 percent of the Lebanese live in poverty, the World Bank says.
Economic growth in Lebanon has stalled in recent years in the wake of repeated political crises, compounded by an eight-year civil war in neighbouring Syria.
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