Unlicensed Media to Function on

Unlicensed Media to Function on Provisional Basis Until Law is Laid Down

The Lebanese Government decided in early April, 1992, to allow illegal radio and television stations to continue to function on a provisional basis until a ministerial committee laid down a new plan of action. Permission to function was conditional on the owners’ of the media observing certain conditions and submitting to the dictates of the press law. The ministerial committee was given until the end of May to submit its recommendations on the basis of which a new law governing the audiovisual media would be formulated. The government of Prime Minister Omar Karami, which had approved the decision, resigned on May 6 before passing any new law. Following are the provisions as they were announced by former Information Minister Albert Mansour:

The Council of Ministers agreed on a number of provisional recommendations to allow illegal media to continue to broadcast. The current press law will be applied on the audio-visual media until a new law governing this field is formulated and approved. In the meantime, the Government took the following decisions:

Requesting from the ministerial committee in charge of laying down the new law for organizing the audio-visual media, a legal, technical, and comprehensive study of all legal and illegal radio and TV stations operating in Lebanon by May 30, 1992. The committee can seek the help of experts of its choice.

The provisional conditions for allowing legal media to continue to function until the new law is formulated provide that operators of the illegal media must sign, within 15 days, affidavits waiving claim to any rights following from the act that they have been allowed to function on a temporary basis. The measure will have no effect on the basic rights of the operating stations, as it is meant to organize broadcasting on provisional grounds.

The owners and operators of illegal media must commit themselves, under liability of being banned, not to use their stations to:

Broadcast news, programs, or films that might endanger public safety and cause public worries and concern, provoke divisions between sects and factions, or differentiate between one religion and another or one sect and another, or harm Lebanon’s Arab and international relations.

Libel the heads of state of friendly and sisterly countries, the President of the Republic, Speaker of the Parliament, the Prime Minister, and the spiritual heads of religious communities.

Show footage or programs which might undermine the national reconciliation pact, and which may incite sedition and sectarian differences.

Violate dictates of the press law.

Libel individuals, parties, and factions outside the limits of a constructive debate on their viewpoints and positions.

Broadcast any footage, news, or programs which would undermine the national economy and currency. The media must commit themselves to truthful and impartial newscasts and to be objective in their reporting, projecting various points of view.

4. The public prosecutor in Beirut has the power to enforce punitive measures against the media which violate the commitments mentioned above. He will act against violations as follows:

First, a warning will be issued.

Second, the radio or television station will be suspended for three days.

Third, should the violation be repeated, the station will be closed for good.