Politics is hard. But it’s a lot easier when you get free adverting and free airtime–when every time you speak, your every word gets carried live by every TV channel:
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| LBC |
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| Tele Liban |
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| Al Jadeed |
In what seemed a fleeting moment of independence, Al Jadeed TV (above) broke away from the live feed…
Only to carry another live speech by another rival politician:
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| Al Jadeed |
Meanwhile, infrastructure is crumbling, roads are deadly, power supply, water supply and telecoms are among the least reliable and most expensive in the world, police fail to fight crimes occurring before them on a daily basis, investigations are rarely followed up, developers are clearing ruins and demolishing historic property and green space with abandon, and parliament itself is flouting the constitution by eliminating elections last year. But those stories get almost no air time compared to politicians, who thanks to the media, enter our homes on a nightly, daily and even hourly basis.
Lebanese politicians are by far the most covered news story in Lebanon. So how much free air time do they get? How many hours per year do we see their faces and hear their voices?
Compare this to how many hours they are held accountable. Most of them participated in the civil war, most of them have led savage shelling on towns and villages killing hundreds, if not thousands of innocents– most of them have used their power to make money for their businesses and the businesses of their friends and families.
So how much air time do those stories get? And how much air time is given to the Lebanese people?
