Freedom of the press is under threat, the media is screaming
in unison. The culprit is an apparently well-intentioned
proposal to place a ceiling on campaign expenditure and
advertising in a bid to limit the influence of money in parliamentary
elections. It’s not the spirit but the fine print that has the press
in an uproar. In trying to ensure equal access to airtime and a limit
on spending, the law would make it impossible to stay open for business
during elections, according to the press. “The proposed law prevents
the audio and visual media from covering one of the most
important political events in the life of the Lebanese people – the
parliamentary elections,” says Tanios Deaibess, general manager
of Sowt el Shaib radio station. “It contains
clauses that mix reporting with
advertising.” Private media representatives,
supported by the publishers’
union and the press syndicate, are trying
to have the draft law amended, specifically
clauses nine and ten (see chart).
The proposed law gives state-run
Tele-Liban (TL) and Radio-Liban the
exclusive rights to air campaign advertising.
“That contradicts, first of all, the
right of private television to equal treatment
with TL. Secondly, it undermines
an individual’s right to freely
enter into any commercial deal. And
thirdly, a Lebanese citizen has the right to
choose any form of media for the campaign,”
says lawyer Edmond Naim. Not
surprisingly, granting exclusive privileges
to TL has been rejected by private
stations. “Tele-Liban is a registered company just like all other television
stations. All institutions should be treated equally,” says
Gabriel Murr, advisor to MTV television.
On top of limiting airtime and spending, the elections are seen as
an opportunity to compensate the financially ailing TL. “When the
television licenses were granted in the past they deprived TL of the
right to exclusivity which it had until 2012,” says Hikmat Abou Zeid,
the prime minister’s media advisor. “But there’s a deeper problem
with TL that will not be solved with the one-off $5 million or so that
they might get during the elections,” counters Murr. The law suggests
giving all parliamentary contenders an equal time slot at a fixed
cost of about $1,326 for five minutes on TL and $130 for ten minutes
on Radio-Liban. The government now says that it’s open to
making the airtime free of charge to all candidates.
The government’s proposal to monitor the press on election coverage
would mean blurring what is campaign advertising as
opposed to legitimate reporting. “It prevents the radio and TV stations
from covering the elections as well as from being a medium
of publicity. It says the prohibition covers interviews, platform declarations,
candidate rallies, caricatures,
etc,” says Murr. Media professionals
believe that will make it impossible for
them to cover any political figures or
events during election time. Drawing the
fine line between publicity for candidates
and their platforms and reporting on
those issues is, legally speaking, tricky.
“Electoral advertising is making public
the candidates’ qualifications or informing
the public of the date and place of rallies
or the events. Reporting, on the other
hand, is discussing the platform or the
intentions of the candidates should they
get elected,” says Naim.
There is also the issue of advertising revenue.
Advertising goes up across the
board for all media with a political
license during elections. It increased by
some 15% for An Nahar newspaper during
the 1996 elections. Excluding the private audio-visual media not
only deprives them of revenue from campaign advertising but
also affects their ability to attract advertising during the pre-election
season, according to a memorandum sent to prime minister
Salim Hoss from LBCI and Voix du Liban.
The draft law sets the ceiling at almost $100,000 for campaigning
expenses and about $66,000 for publicity. But candidates have
spent a great deal more in the past. An election hopeful would not
have spent less than $500,000 during the
1996 elections, according to Edmond
Saab, the executive editor of An Nahar. The
cost of political advertising, which is four
to five times more expensive than commercial
advertising, doesn’t come cheap. A
page of platform publicity was priced at $15,000 last time around.
The government is expecting a heated
debate. “The proposed law is the first of its
kind and it is natural that it will cause controversy. The state is committed to two fundamental
principles: that of a ceiling on
campaign spending and ensuring that all
candidates have equal access to the media,”
says Abou Zeid. The draft will probably be
amended. But requests to withdraw and
redraft the law before it goes to parliament
would mean delays. If the law is put forward
in time for the vote, MPs will have the final
say on what they can or cannot do during the
run-up to elections.
Excerpts from the proposed law on campaign expenditure and media coverage
Clause 9 Electoral media and advertising for the benefit
of candidates means: conveying news of campaigns
and electoral lists (meetings, rallies, interviews,
symposiums, etc), promotion of events in
audio and visual media. In the press those that benefit
candidates (headlines, articles, slogans, pictures,
analyses, commentary, caricatures, etc), either directly
or indirectly.
Clause 10 To ensure equality amongst candidates
all private audio and visual media cannot air campaign
publicity for the duration of the election period
which begins when elections are officially
declared by the government.
