Lebanese Ministry of Information
Information Minister Melhem Riachi discussed possible media cooperation with Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian Wednesday. “Lebanon’s media sector has a large impact not only in the country but regionwide as well,” the state-run National News Agency reported Wang as saying after the ambassador expressed interested in working with Lebanon in the media sector. The NNA added that Wang and Riachi discussed signing a memorandum of understanding between China and the Information Ministry to strengthen communication and cooperation on both sides. Lebanon’s media sector has suffered from financial setbacks in the past few months. Prominent newspaper An-Nahar has laid off over a hundred staff members, while As-Safir folded. Riachi has vowed to address the issue with a forthcoming bailout plan that would alleviate 70 percent of local media’s financial burdens. Riachi added that the plan would implement subsidies.
