LBC journalists claim they were sacked for political reasons
‘They have treated us maliciously and unprofessionally’
Senior journalists fired by the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) last Thursday have claimed that political motivation was behind certain job cuts during a recent swathe of redundancies.
Despite sharing more than a decade of service with LBC, Diamand Rahmeh Geagea, Denise Fakhry, Vera Abu Munsif and dozens of their colleagues were orally informed of their departure by a secretary last Thursday. One week later, they were still waiting to hear from LBC management.
“When you are doing internal restructuring you don’t sack experienced and competent people,” a statement released by the released LBC employees on Thursday said. “We cannot but have in the back of our minds the political motivation that led the administration to take such a decision.”
The sacked employees all had links to the Lebanese Forces (LF), which created LBC as a media mouthpiece in 1985. When the LF’s head Samir Geagea was imprisoned in 1994 for his part in Lebanon’s 1975-1990 Civil War, the chairman of the board of directors Pierre Daher took control of the station.
Since Geagea’s release in 2005 and the consequent resurgence of the LF, Geagea has called for the LBC to return to his party’s control.
Daher has opposed this. In 2006 An-Nahar reported him saying: “LBC will not be a propaganda tool for the Lebanese Forces.” Daher was unavailable for comment when The Daily Star went to press.
In what Rahmeh Geagea purports to be a leaked memo circulated by Daher to the LBC newsroom, Fakhry and herself are accused of intimidating fellow employees.
“It seems to me that there are some ex-employees who do not understand that the War is over and that the ‘intimidation’ language used by their fellow militiamen, is the kind of talk that made public opinion turn against what was considered once as the most ‘noble and just’ cause, championed by the Lebanese Forces,” the alleged memo said.
LBC said the cuts were a result of internal restructuring, precipitated by the global financial crisis.
“I feel angry and I feel that they have treated us maliciously and unprofessionally. I never reflected my political views in my work, [even when I was covering the Civil War],” Rahmeh Geagea said.
Fakhry, an LBC reporter of 16 years, said “we didn’t make any mistakes on air … we always followed the instructions of LBC policy. I’ve been there my whole life and feel very sad about what happened.”
The pair spoke before a news conference which saw standing room only available in the Press Club Conference room. Conspicuous by their absence were LBC, who’s distinct purple and yellow microphone was not among the 16 clustered before the trio and Press Club President Yousef Houwayek, who hosted the event.
When contacted by The Daily Star, the LBC administration said they had “no comment” on the news conference held by the sacked employees.
“The administration of LBC did not abide by any humanitarian considerations. They did not care that among them were pregnant women,” according to the dismissed employees’ statement released at the conference.
Both Rahmeh Geagea and Fakhry are expecting children. Under article 52 of the, 1946 labor code, a dismissal notice may not be served on any woman who is five months pregnant or more. Fakhry falls inside the five-month limit but Rahmeh Geagea told The Daily Star she was sixth months pregnant.
Geagea concluded: “The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation claimed for years it is objective and was [supportive of freedom of speech], but show the contrary when they expel staff who do not share their political views.”