Center for Media and Cultural Freedom LEBANESE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE OIL AND GAS SECTOR A Report by In Cooperation with With the support of the Global Center for Journalism and Democracy Sam Houston State University This project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the Samir Kassir Foundation and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. LEBANESE MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE OIL AND GAS SECTOR August 2014 Center for Media and Cultural Freedom Lebanese Media Coverage of the Oil and Gas Sector About the Authors Joseph Dyke is currently a Dubai-based freelance journalist. From 2012 to 2013 he was Online Editor at Executive Magazine. He reported extensively on Lebanon’s oil and gas sector. Matt Nash is Executive Magazine’s Economics and Policy Editor. He has been reporting on energy, Lebanese politics and regional issues for seven years, and worked at NOW from 2008 to 2014. Benjamin Redd is a journalist specialized in infographics and data visualization. He is Executive Magazine’s Managing Editor. He has also been reporting on security and Middle Eastern issues. Mona Sukkarieh is the co-founder of Middle East Strategic Perspectives, specialized in geopolitics and strategic studies, parliamentary strengthening, human rights and the energy sector. With the contribution of SKeyes staff: Michael Amery, Intern (February to May 2014). Marwan El-Khoury, Web Administrator (since April 2014). Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director (since September 2011). 4 Table of Contents Executive Summary .........................................................................6 Introduction ....................................................................................8 Background ...................................................................................10 Media Landscape ............................................................................10 Governance in Lebanon ...................................................................11 A Hydrocarbons History ...................................................................13 Governance in the Sector .................................................................15 Media Monitoring Study ................................................................17 Methodology ..................................................................................17 Results ............................................................................................18 Analysis ..........................................................................................23 Major Trends ...................................................................................28 Recommendations ........................................................................29 Resources ......................................................................................31 Appendix A: Selected Media Sources ...............................................33 Appendix B: List of Articles and News Stories ....................................42 5 Lebanese Media Coverage of the Oil and Gas Sector Executive Summary Oil and gas resources have the potential to nascent oil and gas sector. SKeyes scrutinized six transform Lebanon’s economy. Neighboring television channels, five newspapers, two news countries – namely Cyprus and Israel – have made websites and one magazine. The goal of monitoring significant natural gas discoveries in the Eastern was to have an idea of what topics related to oil Mediterranean, and Lebanese officials believe and gas Lebanese media was (or was not) covering, there are more discoveries to be made beneath how often the sector was covered and how accurate Lebanon’s waters. The country is in the early the coverage was. stages of building an oil and gas sector but still has not drilled any exploration wells. Lack of drilling The media plays a very important role in both means that it is very difficult to estimate how explaining complex issues to the public and in much oil and gas the country may have, but data monitoring the government’s handling of the collected so far prompted the Minister of Energy energy sector. The oil and gas industry has a and Water at the time to declare in October 2013 shady reputation. Rightly or wrongly, many that “the current estimate, under a probability of citizens assume that international oil companies 50 percent, for almost 45 percent of our waters, pay bribes to government officials and prioritize has reached 95.9 trillion cubic feet of gas and profit over protecting the environment and 865 million barrels of oil.” While it is impossible respecting local communities. In countries with to verify such an estimate until wells are drilled, poor transparency track records and high levels that 52 international oil companies applied for of corruption, revenues from oil and gas sales rights to explore in Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic are often mismanaged. Lebanon, which lacks Zone suggests many believe the country has a high an access to information law, scores poorly on potential of having oil and gas resources. international measures of transparency and, according to a state-produced report from 2011, In May 2013, Lebanon launched its first offshore has a bureaucracy infused with corruption. It is oil and gas licensing round. The government therefore imperative for the Lebanese media to initially wanted exploration and production sharing fully understand and accurately report on the oil contracts to be signed with international oil and gas and gas sector. companies in early 2014, but the process has been delayed due to the prevailing political deadlock. The results of SKeyes’ monitoring show there is room for the Lebanese media to improve their Lebanon’s potential oil and/or gas resources have coverage of the sector. A vast majority of coverage become a larger part of the national conversation focused on politics with very little attention paid since the adoption of a law in 2010 allowing for to the environmental impact the sector will have offshore drilling and the subsequent establishment and the role of civil society in also monitoring of the Lebanon Petroleum Administration. The oil the sector. Many of the articles and television and gas sector is very complex, and the technical reports monitored included factual errors experts most familiar with it often use terminology and terminology was often misused. Further, that is difficult for the general public to understand. SKeyes noticed that journalists sometimes quote In early 2014, the SKeyes Center for Media and sources that give inaccurate information or Cultural Freedom spent several weeks monitoring misquote sources, thus presenting misleading the Lebanese media coverage of the country’s information. Finally, Lebanese journalists paid 6 Executive Summary very little attention to oil and gas developments in neighboring countries, such as Cyprus and Israel, even though developments in those countries could have an impact on Lebanon. If the media do not understand and accurately report on this sector, average citizens will be lost in trying to grasp this very complex subject. Therefore, SKeyes recommends that Lebanese journalists and editors do the following: • Fact-check all information before publication; • Seek out high-quality, reliable sources to interview; • Report on a wider variety of topics; • Report on developments in neighboring countries; • Understand and train staff on oil and gas terminology in order to use it properly; • Use slow news periods to do more in-depth, investigative reporting; and • Research how other countries have built their oil and gas sectors to better contextualize developments in Lebanon. 7 Lebanese Media Coverage of the Oil and Gas Sector Introduction As Lebanon moves closer to exploring for resources through mechanisms of public offshore oil and gas resources, the media, the engagement and participatory policy making. general public and the political class have been More specifically, this project aims to help the struggling to find answers to critical questions. media cover the energy sector independently How much energy resources does Lebanon and professionally, and give Lebanese citizens actually have? Will the energy sector exacerbate accurate information to better advocate for their regional conflicts? How transparent will the rights. process of exploring energy resources be? How to use oil and gas revenues? The media plays a fundamental role in spreading knowledge about, raising awareness of At best, available answers have often lacked and highlighting potential flaws in the accuracy and clarity. The various stakeholders, management of the oil and gas sector. To this with the exception of a limited number of end, journalists need to understand the sector’s technical experts, do not have the much neededtechnicalities as well as the economic and scientific knowledge to understand the variouspolitical implications of management decisions. intricacies of the sector, and if they did, they canMoreover, they need to help the general public rarely communicate their message simply to themake sense of the numbers and the technical general public. Also, given Lebanon’s poor recorddetails in an accurate, impartial, transparent and in terms of transparency, there are growing fearsindependent way. among the Lebanese public that political leaders will seek unlawful ways to reap benefits throughWith the right communication channels, through the various phases of exploring and extractingcivil