Crisis Coverage: Spotlight on Arab Media

ENAR

Magda Abu Fadil*, Michael Karam and Nicholas Blanford examine how the media, operating in a partisan and emotive environment, styled its coverage, beginning with the brutal killing of Rafik Hariri and culminating in the toppling of the government.   If a week is a long time in politics, then two weeks is an eternity in journalism. While Lebanon may never be the same again, the same could be said for its media. In the space of 14 epoch-forming days, from the killing of Rafik Hariri to the toppling of the Karami government by the so-called Cedar Revolution, Lebanese news coverage, by its reporting, opinion-forming and dialogue, was enjoying its finest hour. It was never going to be easy. The popular consensus was that Rafik Hariri had been brutally murdered in a bid to silence him and send a message to all those contemplating criticism of the country’s ruling elite and