BEIRUT: Friday’s meeting of the Audio Visual Media Council will likely result in a request for apologies from television stations accused of sectarian and provocative coverage of recent events, the council’s head said Thursday.
 
Abdul-Hadi Mahfouz told The Daily Star that Information Minister Walid Daouk, council members, the heads of administration boards and news directors for media institutions will attend the congregation, which will be followed by a closed meeting when council members and Daouk will “make the appropriate decision.”
 
The meeting was called after several television stations, including Al-Jadeed and LBCI, were accused of unethical coverage of the recent Meqdad family kidnapping spree and the case of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims still held in Syria.
 
While the Audio Visual Media Council has a consultative role, President Michel Sleiman asked it to carry out its role in controlling “media chaos” after conflicting and apparently unverified reports about the fate of the pilgrims were broadcast within a short time. Also much criticized was a rush to broadcast interviews with the Meqdad hostages, particularly the lone Turkish captive who was surrounded by gunmen.
 
Despite reports the council could suggest that Al-Jadeed and LBCI be shut down for a short time or issued with warnings, Mahfouz said he believed the likely outcome would be a request for apologies.
 
Although Mahfouz confirmed that the council can only issue recommendations, he said Thursday that he believed the Cabinet “would take on any recommendation of the council, since there is one political will right now and there is public resentment over this issue. It is unlikely that the government would go against [a council recommendation].”
 
Despite claims that they have helped to ignite a potentially explosive situation with their coverage, the television stations in question for the most part have not been publically apologetic thus far. Both LBCI and Al-Jadeed criticized the potential media crackdown in recent introductions to their nightly newscasts.
 
Al-Jadeed deemed Friday the “Friday of media” in reference to the practice of naming days of protest during the Arab Spring, and said the government is attempting to impose the authority on the media that it can’t on the ground.
 
LBCI’s introduction said that “those who blame the media for broadcasting inaccurate information about the safety of the kidnapped [pilgrims in Syria] are the ones who once dragged the government and the families of the kidnapped to the airport to wait for a special plane that was to transport the 11 Lebanese in a humiliating scene,” referring to an early much publicized announcement that the hostages – now in captivity for three months – would arrive at Rafik Hariri International Airport soon after their abduction.
 
In a slightly more apologetic tone, the introduction continued that “if the TV stations owe any apology, it is to the Lebanese and Syrian kidnapped who have their testimonies on air in a situation where they were not [completely] free.”
 
Media watchdog Maharat issued a statement Thursday that said the media has committed “several ethical and professional mistakes during its coverage,” including not taking into consideration the possibility that those kidnapped were being fed statements, and “promoting violence by covering the armed [Meqdad] men and their statements, and showing them as heroes.” It added that too much air time was given to the kidnappers.
 
Maharat also mentioned that some stations broadcast “inaccurate and faulty information,” not taking into account the possibility that their sources were not independent.” Despite these criticisms, Maharat called it “unfair to hold the media completely responsible [for events] because it is carrying out its role in reporting events on the ground.”
 
The watchdog noted that the Audio Visual Media Council currently had no authority, except when it was backed by political interests “as happened today” with reports that Sleiman would back the council. It added that the country’s media law should be updated so that the council could work with independence and away from political pressure.
 
Hezbollah MP Hasan Fadlallah, the head of Parliament’s Media and Telecommunications Committee, said Thursday that the country was “facing an ethical challenge more than a legal one, represented by a breaking of the standards of consideration for human feelings and emotions,” adding that “the government should apply the law with specific mechanisms which protect the media’s freedom of the press, but also protect the society from any harm.”