International Advertising Association - Lebanon branch
Tuesday 13th of May, 2008 - The International Advertising Association (IAA), Lebanon chapter, declared solidarity with fellow journalists, media professionals and intellectuals by joining the sit-in that took place in front of the Future News building on Tuesday 13 May, 2008.
The IAA denounces the attacks made on Al Mustaqbal and Al-Liwa’ newspapers, Al-Shiraa magazine, Future Television and Al-Sharq radio station, and requests from those who carried out these acts against free media, free men and free thought in this wounded country, to collaborate with the owners of these media institutions in order to re-open them so they can play their role in a world of media pluralism.
Today more than ever, we feel that the press, radio, and television have lost their immunity after this sad and tragic attack on intellectual thought and free speech. How can the dialogue be understood without free thought? How can the dialogue be interpreted without free media? How can there be a dialogue without opponents and public opinion? How can we talk about democracy in the presence of a biased medium that does not accept different intellectual means of expression?
The Lebanese media have been at the forefront of the Arab media in spite of strong competition, equally valuable potential yet less available financial resources. Lebanese institutions have been able to compete with dozens of Arab satellite stations thanks to pioneering creativity fuelled by free thought and free speech. Creativity, in the media as well as in advertising, has always been extraordinary.
