Press and Cultural Freedom In Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine Annual Report 2012 SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom Samir Kassir Foundation © 2013 Samir Kassir Foundation Address: 63 Zahrani Street, Sioufi, Ashrafieh, Beirut - Lebanon Tel/Fax: (961)-1-397331 Email:
[email protected] http://www.skeyesmedia.org 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 European Union. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the Samir Kassir Foundation and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation for the Future. Translation: Nada Sleiman English editing: Eric Reidy Graphic design: Jamal Awada Printing: Chemaly & Chemaly, Beirut PRESS AND CULTURAL FREEDOM IN 2012 - LEBANON, SYRIA, JORDAN AND PALESTINE Contents FOREWORD 5 SKEYES IN 2012 7 LEBANON 10 SYRIA 18 JORDAN 27 GAZA 32 WEST BANK 36 1948 TERRITORIES 42 CONCLUSION 47 FACTS & FIGURES 48 FRENCH VERSION 57 3 PRESS AND CULTURAL FREEDOM IN 2012 - LEBANON, SYRIA, JORDAN AND PALESTINE Foreword 2012: A Bloodred Year Ayman Mhanna Did the founders of the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom expect in 2007 that a year would come when the Center would count 91 journalists, intellectuals, artists and citizen journalists killed in the Arab Levant? Unfortunately, the number of journalists, intellectuals and artists killed this year overshadows the relative improvement of most press and cultural freedom indicators, which include a decrease in cases of physical assaults, arrests and censorship decisions. However, the number of those killed is more than five times the death toll of 2011.