Marwan Matni describes how working in the Middle East, as Head of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation SAT (LBC) can often lead one into dangerous territory, which sometimes involves crossing that so called “red line”.
Brick-wall, boundary, obstruction, restriction, red line. These are all words used to illustrate obstacles we encounter throughout our lives. It is at times like these, which we are sometimes forced to surrender our control or reason.
But beyond this control, lies the far more menacing repercussions of truth and voice in a land where to speak ones own mind is better kept to the privacy of home. Speaking from a position of intimacy rare in the Middle East, Marwan Matni has been talking to me about the mechanism of reporting and adaptation in the East.
It is widely believed that media in the Middle East is for the most part unreliable. If we look at Reporters without Borders statistics on press freedom within the region, nearly all the countries score below average.
“The same six Middle East champions of repression that are near the bottom of the world press freedom index every year have confirmed their status this year again. Free expression continues to be no more than a dream in Iraq -158th, Syria -159th, Libya -160th, Saudi Arabia -161st, the Palestinian Territories -163rd and Iran-166th”
With restrictions and limitations put in place by both the governmental and religious leaders it’s hard for any broadcasting organisation to function, especially as a truly independent institution.
“The red line is sometimes a mood, being responsible, religious or even personal and it has taken us a lot of experience to try and push these lines without causing major problems in our country, the region and governments” said Marwan
LBC-SAT express their need to remain private. They refuse to be associated with political parties, in order not buckle under the immense pressure of religious influence and power.
“Religious ambiguity is not common for Media in the Middle East” Marwan told me.
Al-Manar one of the other large broadcasting networks in Lebanon is partly funded by Hezbollah, an organisation the United States class as Islamic fundamentalists.
Marwan as Head of News & Current Affairs stumbles upon these clashes for freedom of expression and speech with each year. The deeply rooted ties between both government & faith are the source in almost every case. One can say that the people’s faith is in the government.
Belief in Islam and its sacred book the Qur’an is belief in a working socio-political system. Doubt does not come into the equation, and the laws are always correct. Unquestionably.
A tragic story about a young Qatif woman in Saudi Arabia is just one of the tales Marwan shared with me. Talking from his office near Beirut the capital of Lebanon he describes the trauma he went through trying to save the girls life.
“We set up talk shows and in depth reports about the issue at hand, however, the Saudi Arabian authorities took our coverage as aggression against a religious verdict, religious authority, so we were obliged to stop covering the story”
Marwan continued to explain how he unleashed the story. He made contact with the young girls lawyer who was keen to contribute. The Saudi Arabian religious police had caught the young woman with a boy that wasn’t a relative. This is cause for punishment in the Kingdom, being that Shria’h law forbids this in all cases.
The young woman was sexually assaulted and raped by the police before she reached the station, where she was sentenced to over 60 lashes. Marwan claimed that the government employees were hypocrites and the penalty was absurd.
Since Saudi Arabia stopped LBC from talking about this subject on their cultural and politic shows, he felt obliged as the Head of news to break the story. In order to save the station from being shut down, Marwan got in touch with foreign broadcasting organisations in the states such as CBS news.
“We were forced to act like snakes in order to tackle the issue, finding other points of view and other angles.”
He worked the eyewitnesses’ accounts from Saudi Arabia and ground research while the Western Media broadcasted what they liked about the situation. This strategic move from Marwan saved LBC-SAT from being held responsible.
Further to that his work in-directly played a key role in encouraging the King of Saudi Arabia to grant the young woman amnesty. This is the first time that a woman has been granted amnesty after a religious ruling. Marwan is satisfied with this result but remains confident that more needs to be done for justice in The Kingdom.
“I don’t believe that the media can make people change, I believe that the media is a mirror for the community, a place for them to be heard.”
Marwan compared the issue to a camel going days and days without water, managing his time, his strength, his perseverance, and his morale. The camel understands the desert, just like LBC-SAT has to understand its environment and its audience.
LBC-SAT offers itself up to the public as a platform that can enable an interface with leaders in the Middle East.
As time goes on in the Arab world, more and more people are yearning to speak out. What prevents them is a safe environment to do so.
LBC-SAT and Marwan are providing just that, they are helping the people make the politicians face up to the corruption and deception that runs within the government.
Nonetheless, he feels that change is coming to the Middle East because of the developments made in both media and communication. Marwan talks about how evolution in technology has facilitated a greater voice for the Arab population.
Where words are not enough, Marwan finds that images are key to disseminating a message from the public otherwise prohibited.
With an increase in recording devices both audio and visual, this message is becoming clearer with each day.
For people like Marwan it is important to know where you are, understand the politics, the traditions and the people. It is important to him that he doesn’t burn his bridges by exposing wrongdoings out right.
His primary role is to publish the news fairly and justly as is within his power, but an even greater priority is to ensure he can continue to do so.
This ideology that Marwan carries with him applies to both his professional and social life. Political discussions with his family and friends still don’t provide the freedom for opinion and objectivity, which Marwan stands by. His thoughts and concerns are looked down and frowned upon, a traitor to his community.
“My aim is to be a role model, in my way of thinking and approaching issues. I think with time people will open up and realize they can’t just push everything under the carpet and make things disappear.”
Marwan’s strives to create some sort of harmony for people living in this complex region. He is one of many trying to achieve stability and reason. He emphasizes that it is not the media’s role to be administrating such change but the politicians, who are supposed to be running the country.
Posted in Lebanon, Middle East
Tags: censorship, knowledge, LBC, Lebanon, Marwan Matni, Media, Reporters without borders, The Middle East, the world, understanding, western media vs eastern media
