13 كانون الأول 2002
The Seventh Common Terms Conference, organized by the Imam Musa Sadr Center for studies and research, gathered spiritual leaders from the country’s major sects at UNESCO Palace on Thursday.
Priests, sheikhs and experts at the meeting discussed the Arab media. Many requested the creation of pan- Arab station that would represent the “true” image of Arabs and relay their opinions and beliefs to the world.
During the first day of the two- day conference, entitled The Self and the Other in contemporary media participants pants also paid special tribute to Imam Musa Sadr, the vanished founder of the Amal Movement.
Several representatives of the country’s major spiritual leaders gave their successive views of the ideal media at the opening ceremony, which was attended by Speaker Nabih Berri and a number of officials. Many dubbed the media as a “tool of resistance.”
Among those in attendance during the opening session were former Prime Minister Salim Hoss, Minister of State Nazih Beydoun representing President Emile lahoud, Environment Minister Michel Musa representing Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Social Affairs Minister Assad Diab, and Industry Minister George Frem, as well as the vice- president of Amal, Ayoub Humayed.
During the opening session Sadreddine Sadr, the Imam’s son, relayed the center’s speech instead of the Imam’s sister’s Rabab Sadr.
The vice- president of the Higher Shiite Council Abdel- Amir Qabalan called the media an important weapon which had become part of culture.
He said relations with other cultures should be “that of dialogue and agreement not that of suppressing public opinion,” as is the case with Western media.
Qabalan added that Arab media should consolidate to strengthen Arab nationalism and unity and counter the various campaigns being held against Arabs in the Western media.
The Maronite Bishop of Beirut Boulos Matar, who was representing Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, called on the media to remain realistic and unbiased whether representing Lebanon or the enemy.
Using biblical terms, he dubbed “beautifying the self” and “distorting the enemy” two common media “snakes” which would not serve any useful purpose.
On the other hand, Mohamad Dali Balta, representative of the Grand Sunni Mufti Mohamad Qabbani, said “the adoption of the Israeli choice is not an opinion whish should be discussed calmly and respectfully… because it strays from nationalism.”
Speaking during the first session, chaired by Informayion Minister Ghazi Aridi, An- nahar columnist Sarkis Naoum said that all talks pertaining to the freedom of speech in the media were proof that there was none.
Naoum, whose lecture was entitled The Role of media in National Unity, said “the nations that practice freedom daily don’t find the need to talk about it,” adding that Lebanon was no exception to the rest of the Third World in that it had no freedom of expression.
He recalled one of Sadr’s speeches in which he had called for freedom of press “without any boundaries whatsoever.”
He recounted the recent history of Lebanon, during which national unity had received more than one blow, starting with the 1958 unrest and leading up to the civil war explosion in 1975 that had paved the way for even more conflict.
"The war was proof that national unity was only present in words,” he said.
According to him, Lebanese media suffered from foreign influence and served to transpose Arab and international conflicts inside Lebanon.
Naoum also said that during the war, both Christians and Muslims felt a stronger sense of belonging to their sects rather than to their country.
He pointed out that Christian publications were censored in West Beirut and vice- versa. As to the present, he said that the state “and the regional power that influence it,” have no faith in freedom of expression.
