Decision Taken To Shut Down Tele Liban, Lebanon’s Only Public TV

The Minister of Telecommunications in Lebanon’s caretaker government Ziad Makari has taken a decision to shut down to Lebanon’s only public broadcaster, Tele Liban. The decision comes amidst disputes between employees at the station and the ministry, with the syndicate demanding an increase in compensation in line with the inflation Lebanon has seen over the past 4 years. Tele Liban employees had declared a strike last week over a failure to pay their salaries over the last 3 months.

لاول مرة بتاريخ الدول الدولة تقتل نفسها بتسكير اعلامها.
تاريخ وارشيف تليفزيون لبنان الى اين ؟
الاجتماع الوزاري في الديمان ما قدرو يعملو شي خطة لاستمرارية هيدي المؤسسة؟ او كانوا مشغولين بفيلم باربي سكروا كل شي سكروا المسارح والسينما وخلوا ابواق الفتنة تبعكن تعيش على فتات سخافتكن pic.twitter.com/7idYSqKH1X

— kamil matta (@mattakamil) August 11, 2023

Makari’s decision to shut down Tele Liban cited “many problems that the station has been facing over the last period, including salaries, and workers’ decision to not return to work despite many attempts to find a solution.”

The station was founded back in 1977 as a merger of the 1959-founded Compagnie Libanaise de Télévision and 1961-founded Tele Orient. It has studios in Beirut and Hazmieh and has had almost un-interrupted coverage through the civil war and subsequent crises.

The decision to shut down Tele Liban raises concerns about what could happen to the myriad of archives and Lebanese history hosted in the station. It also sees one of the Arab’s world first television channels be one of the earliest to shut down, and highlights the consequences of neglect and crises on many of Lebanon’s institutions.