Prestige issue 273, April 2016
Media in general and written press specifically live today a very critical period of their history. Many factors are involved. Firstly an international economic crisis to which is added in Lebanon a geopolitical crisis, entailing a recession that the country never experienced, even during the most difficult years of war. Then comes globalization with the arrival of digital connection, that revolutionized all the concept of news transmission. The speed of news transmission via internet is impressive, changing the role of written press and even television. Nevertheless the development of digital communication is in progress and did not reach its optimal threshold. We will witness in the coming years stunning changes. Where will be the place of the written press in all this upsetting? This press that lived the revolution of the radio and then TV and actually the digital revolution, will always be present. Even if the speed of communication is important, the timelessness and news analysis remain the mission of the written press. In Lebanon, the state should exempt it from taxes, creating a pool of subvention to allow it to survive during this transitional period, instead of throwing a span in their work by creating new restrictive laws. MARCELLE NADIM
