Ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections, Maharat Foundation examines Lebanon's TV coverage of electoral campaigns, highlighting violations, and the marginalisation of women from the media space.
This statement was originally published on maharatfoundation.org on 10 March 2022.
The pace of electoral campaigns and political positions, in addition to the involvement of parties, activists and political leaders in preparing for the electoral battle, has increased with the approach of the elections after a period of relative calm in the past few months.
This was highlighted by a study monitoring the coverage of television stations of the upcoming parliamentary elections for the month of February, which is being carried out by Maharat Foundation in partnership with UNESCO. This monitoring report covers the fourth month in a row, as it shows political and media indicators related to the electoral process by keeping pace with television stations.
The monitoring process was extended to include the media coverage of electoral matters and the appearance in the media of political actors in the various news and political dialogue programs broadcast on Lebanese TV channels, from 10 in the morning until midnight, throughout the month of February.
The following seven stations were monitored: OTV, MTV, LBCI, ALMANAR, NBN, ALJADEED, Tele Liban.
This monitoring study allows readers to keep up with what these stations broadcast about the upcoming parliamentary elections during their political programs and news bulletins, identifying the people (politicians, activists and actors) who appear on screens, the duration of their appearance on the screen, the prevailing general rhetorical tone, the position of women in the media space, and issues of electoral education and other concerns that accompany the media discourse.
