French president urged to speak up for press freedom with prime minister

Reporters Without Borders called today on French President Jacques Chirac to voice concern about the steady decline in press freedom in Lebanon over the past year when he meets visiting Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in Paris tomorrow. "If the independence and diversity of the media are flouted any further, Lebanon will soon lose its proud reputation as an island of freedom in the Arab world," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to Chrirac. The latest encroachment, he said, was the ban, under Saudi government pressure, on the privately-owned New Television (NTV) station broadcasting a programme about Saudi Arabia on 1 January. As with the permanent closure of the privately-owned Murr Television (MTV), confirmed by the press appeals court on 27 December, the authorities were "hiding behind a decision by legal officials", Ménard charged. The country's chief prosecutor, Adnan Addum, formally ordered the latest ban and said it was aimed at preserving good relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Hariri also ordered the telecommunications ministry to stop the programme being broadcast to the region by cutting off NTV's satellite link. "This is a clear attack on freedom of expression," Ménard wrote.