In nepotism we trust

byHabib Battah
May 1, 2013

That’s our new prime minister, Tammam Salam (left and bottom) next to his late father Saeb Salam, who was prime minister for six terms.

The portraits of both men are mounted above a tunnel named after Salim Salam, Tammam’s grandfather, who was mayor of Beirut and represented the city in the Ottoman Parliament.

Habib Battah

Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 20 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.