The state-owned National News Agency (NNA) is the main news agency in Lebanon, with a history going back to 1961.
Media assets
News agency: NNA
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
NNA operates as a directorate under the Ministry of Information, which makes all the decisions related to the agency’s management.
Source of funding and budget
NNA is funded primarily through a subsidy from the state budget approved by the government, according to local experts.
Editorial independence
NNA is run as a directorate of a government ministry and, hence, its editorial policy is fully controlled by the government. As a result, the agency follows the government line and never criticizes the authorities. In the few cases when it tried to do so, its management was changed immediately. Last time that happened was in October 2019 when the NNA’s Director General was ousted as the agency decided to cover the anti-government protests that erupted in the country.
No domestic statute and no independent mechanism that would validate the editorial independence of Radio Liban have been identified.
August 2023