TV
is still the most prominent medium for news in Lebanon. The majority of the
Lebanese population, about 96%, use TV to get news or headlines, while 79% do
that on a daily basis [1]. This makes TV the most used media type for accessing
information. Roughly only one in 10 individuals watches French material on TV
in Lebanon. The vast majority follow Arabic (99%) and English (60%) material,
ibid.
The
country witnessed the creation of the first television station in the Middle
East in 1959 under the name Compagnie Libanaise de Télévision, which
later became Télé Liban (TL). After the implementation of the
Audiovisual Media Law No. 382 of 1994, several private stations were granted
licenses and Télé Liban’s monopoly over broadcasting ended [2].
The
Lebanese TV landscape includes nine national TV channels. Out of the nine local
TV stations that were studied by the Media Monitor project in Lebanon, only one
is state-owned (TL), while the other eight are in the hands of at least
ten prominent Lebanese families and one political party [3]. Furthermore, eight
of the nine TV channels are politically affiliated, and political parties
remain an important source of funding. At least two TV stations were shut down
temporarily because of their opposition to powerful political figures: Al
Jadeed TV in 1997 and Murr Television (MTV) in 2002.
It
has been apparent for many years that each sectarian group in Lebanon has its
own television network or networks that broadcast to a specific target group.
Till now, little research has been conducted on the portrayal of religious
minority groups, such as atheists, on Lebanese television networks. This work
is intended to assess bias against atheists in Lebanon as portrayed on Lebanese
TV stations.
·
There were six main categories of subjects covered by the media on
the topic of atheism: Freedom (3), scandals (3), refuting atheism and affirming
the existence of God (3), other talk shows discussing atheism
(2), disambiguation
(2), morality and religion (1).
·
The majority of assessed material, around 80%, was biased against
atheists. However, TV channels that promote religious ideologies in Lebanon,
such as Al Manar, exhibited highest bias against atheists.
·
Most TV shows that discussed atheism, or topics related to it,
presented atheism in an unfavorable manner. This is true of 57% of the assessed
material.
·
Bias in question design was mostly expressed in question tone.
Although allegations of contempt of religion can be legally incriminating in
certain countries, they were made while citing sources, such as video material
shared by the atheist participant.
·
Coverage bias mainly materialized in less time given to atheist
participants. The presenters in more than 80% of talk shows that included both
a defender of atheism and an opponent of atheism interrupted the former guests
more than the latter ones. This was sometimes used to prevent guests from
elaborating on pro-atheism ideas.
·
When guests were included, biased talk shows in the assessed
material systematically gave less time to atheists. This was done by several
ways which include: (1) significantly delaying them from participation by
giving them a lower rank and (2) seating pro-atheist
participants along with members of the audience, but still allowing them to
participate as though they were guests.
· With
few exceptions, participants were generally invited to talk shows at the same
time regardless of where they stand concerning atheism. On two occasions,
proponents of atheism, a geology instructor, and an ex Muslim sheikh, were
invited significantly later than other participants. Both incidents happened on
Al Jadeed TV station. Bias in terms of participant rank also exhibited
itself in how participants were seated. On Future TV, atheist participants of
lower rank included young friends of an atheist who committed suicide who were
seated among the audience instead of hosting at least one of them as a guest.
After compiling a list of Lebanese TV stations, material from the
talk shows of each station was compiled from YouTube and from each TV station’s
website. Two individuals conducted the search process independently. A
selection process was then devised in order to choose media material for
content analysis.
The content analysis of this study adapts approaches of similar
studies conducted on political talk shows in the Middle East [4]. The time
frame selected is from 2010 till 2020 with special emphasis on the last two
years. By using stratified sampling,
materials from TV stations, such as talk shows and news reports, were divided
into different strata according to guest representation, channels, and type of
material. Stratified sampling is a type of sampling method in which the total
population is divided into smaller groups, or strata, to complete the sampling
process. Due to limited amount of material discussing or mentioning atheism,
all relevant material, in its respective stratum, was analyzed.
All material was watched carefully before each was assessed for
bias. The method we used to assess the biases relies heavily on that used in [4].
However, we have modified this method in a way that better suits both our data
set and the purpose of our analysis. As in [4], bias was studied through a
total of six indicators, divided among three types of bias:
A. Content
bias:
Direction of introduction: the way atheist guests were introduced
compared to other (non-atheist) guests. The introduction of the guests could be
either favorable, unfavorable or neutral to atheism.
B. Question
design bias:
B.1. Question
tone: the tone used by the anchorperson when asking atheist guests a
question. The tone could determine whether there is any form of bias towards
the guest.
B.2. Allegation-based
question: this is a question carrying a form of an allegation or accusation.
Whether such allegation-based questions existed, or whether the allegations
were relevant, and given with or without sources, are indicators of possible
biases.
C. Coverage
bias:
C.1.
Ranks of participants: this
dimension studies the order in which guests were invited and the time interval
separating these invitations in case the guests were not invited at the same
time. An important parameter also included in this dimension is how different
guests were seated, i.e., as guests with the anchorperson or among the audience.
C.2.
Time given per answer: the
time that atheist guests were given to answer the questions they were given
compared to that given to other guests.
C.3.
Interruptions by anchorperson: the
frequency at which the anchorperson interrupts atheist guests compared to other
guests.
These six indicators are
relative. For example, interruption by anchorperson is relative to how the
anchorperson usually interacts with other non-atheist participants. The
conclusions of talk shows were not studied because ending shows with a
concluding statement did not seem to be very common.
After carefully watching
all the material, for each of the six dimensions (bias indicators), one of
three scores was given: a score of 1 when the material was favorable to
atheism, a score of 2 when the material was neutral and a score of 3 for
material that was biased against atheism. This is explained in detail in Table 1.
Table
1. Political Bias
Index to measure bias of talk shows and news reports towards atheists in
Lebanon
|
Political
Bias Category
|
Dimensions
of Political Bias Index
|
Indicators for Political Bias Dimensions
|
|
1 point
|
2 points
|
3 points
|
|
Content bias
|
Direction of
introduction
|
Pro atheism
|
Neutral
|
Anti-atheism
|
|
Question
design bias
|
Question tone
|
Favorable
|
Neutral
|
Unfavorable
|
|
Allegations
in questions
|
Praise
|
No allegation or relevant allegation with source
|
Allegation without source
|
|
Coverage bias
|
Rank of
participants
|
Pro atheist party invited first or seated as a guest while opponent
seated among audience
|
Both parties invited simultaneously and seated similarly
|
Pro atheist party invited later or seated among audience
|
|
Time given to
answer
|
More time allocated to pro atheist party
|
Equal time to both parties
|
Less time allocated to pro atheist party
|
|
Interruptions
|
Less interruptions towards pro atheist party
|
Equal interruptions towards both parties
|
More interruptions towards pro atheist party
|
With that, for each of the assessed materials we get a score
between 6 and 18, which will be used to determine the degree of bias according
to Table 2 below.
Table 2. Degree
of Bias
|
Final Score
|
6 to 8
|
9 to11
|
12
|
13 to 15
|
16 to 18
|
|
Degree of
Bias
|
Favorable
|
Somewhat Favorable
|
Neutral
|
Somewhat Biased
|
Biased
|
One
major difference that our data had compared to that analyzed in [4] is that at
some points, and depending on guest representation, certain dimensions did not
apply. For example, when no guests were present, the content bias
category was the only relevant one. Similarly, in cases of one-sided guest
representation, the coverage bias dimensions ‘ranks of participants’ and
‘interruptions’ did not apply. To account for this, the total score obtained
using the bias scale above was divided by the number of applicable dimensions.
This score was multiplied by 6 to obtain a final score between 6 and 18 as
above, and correspondingly use Table 2 as
an indicator of the degree of bias. This can be explained in the formula below:
For example, if for a certain episode only three out of the six
bias indicators (dimensions) were present, we divide the score we get by three,
and then multiply by six to rescale the score. The number of applicable
dimensions for each category of bias is displayed in Table 3 below.
Table 3. Count
of applicable dimensions for different levels of guest representation
|
Guest Representation
|
Content
Bias
|
Question Design Bias
|
Coverage
Bias
|
Total
|
|
No
guest representation
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
One-sided
guest representation
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
|
Two-sided
guest representation
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
6
|
The online search on TV material concerned with atheism yielded 14
talk shows or sections of talk shows that were analyzed for bias. As shown in
Table 4 below, most of the material came from interview talk shows. Other TV
material that brought up atheism as a topic included two comedic talk shows,
one issue-based talk show and one news story.
There were six main categories of subjects covered by the media in
the context of atheism: Freedom (3), scandals (3), refuting atheism and
affirming the existence of God (3), other talk shows discussing atheism (2),
disambiguation (2), morality and religion (1).
Table 4.
Lebanese TV channel material that was analyzed for bias
against atheists
|
Serial
|
Source
|
Show
|
Type
|
Title
|
Host
|
Guest
|
Subject Category
|
|
NO GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
106
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
Tony Khalife
|
Interview
talk show
|
09/03/2020
|
Tony Khalife
|
Not Applicable
|
Freedom (abuse of
freedom of speech)
|
|
95
|
Future TV
|
Tele Stars
|
Interview
talk show
|
Ziad Njeim, an atheist or not?*
|
Carine Salame
|
Not Applicable
|
Other talk shows
discussing atheism
|
|
44
|
LBCI
|
BBCHI TV
|
Comedic
talk show
|
Episode 23
|
Fouad Yammine,
Salam Al-Zaatari
|
Not Applicable
|
Disambiguation
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY PRO ATHEIST
|
|
71
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
News
|
News
story
|
Atheists in Lebanon*
|
Ramez Al Kadi
|
Mario Ramadan,
Sami Ab,
Mazen Abou Hamdan,
Bilal Al Husseini
|
Disambiguation
|
|
107
|
MTV
|
Talk of the Town
|
Issue-based
talk show
|
Ziad
Njeim
|
Mona Abou Hamza,
Simon Abi Ramia,
Michel Abou Sleiman
|
Ziad Njeim
|
Scandal
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY ANTI ATHEIST
|
|
96
|
Al Manar
|
Abelmosk seed*
|
Interview
talk show
|
29/12/2013
|
Mohammad Al Bandar
|
Tawfeek Masroor
|
Refuting atheism / promoting
theism
|
|
103
|
Al Manar
|
Communi-cation*
|
Interview
talk show
|
Atheism*
|
Doaa Al Hajj Hassan,
Ahmad Taha,
Ali Rida Sbeiti
|
Mohammad Shoukeir
|
Refuting atheism / promoting
theism
|
|
100
|
NBN
|
Your Opinion*
|
Interview
talk show
|
Infidel, believer, or atheist, what do you
think?*
|
Kassem Doghman
|
Nour Al Assi
|
Scandal
|
|
TWO-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
72
|
TL
|
Our Street*
|
Interview
talk show
|
Freedom of Belief in Lebanon: Between Atheism
and Religiosity*
|
Maya Majzoub
|
Maher Abou Shakra,
Sahar Ghaddar
|
Freedom
(of religion)
|
|
102
|
Future TV
|
Speaking of*
|
Interview talk show
|
The suicide of the Lebanese activist Nour
Merheb*
|
Zaven Kouyoumdjian
|
Shawky Bassil,
Jamal Awar,
Chadi Moawad,
Nadine Dib
|
Scandal (suicide of an
activist)
|
|
Continued on
next page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table 4. Lebanese TV channel material
that was analyzed for bias against atheists (continued)
|
|
Serial
|
Source
|
Show
|
Type
|
Title
|
Host
|
Guest
|
Subject Category
|
|
TWO-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
93
|
MTV
|
Starting with us*
|
Comedic
talk show
|
Atheism as presented by the TV
show Eye for Eye*
|
Pierre Rabbat
|
Joseph Tawk,
Habib Ghobril,
Ghassan Rahbani,
Mona Saliba,
Antoine Kassabian,
Roula Kehdi
|
Other talk shows
discussing atheism
|
|
1
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
Eye for an Eye*
|
Interview
talk show
|
Atheism*
|
Tony Khalife
|
Ziad Njeim,
Ahmad Harkan (apologized),
Edgar el-Haibi,
Khaled Abed El Fattah
|
Refuting atheism / promoting
theism
|
|
70
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
For
Publication*
|
Interview
talk show
|
A Sheikh shares his experience…*
|
Rima Karaki
|
Jamil Halim,
Khalaf Abou Khalaf
|
Freedom (abuse of
freedom of speech)
|
|
94
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
This is How I Am*
|
Interview
talk show
|
The atheist vs the penitent evildoer*
|
Nishan
Derharoutyounian
|
Tony Franjieh,
Ali Haidar
|
Morality and religion
|
*Arabic titles of shows and episodes
are included in Appendix B
As
discussed earlier, the analyzed material varied in terms of guest inclusion;
this can be seen in Table 5 below. Half of
the material included the representation of both sides. In one out of four
instances of one-sided guest representation the represented side was pro
atheism. This instance was a news story that dates back to a decade ago. On
three occasions, hosts engaged in monologues or discussions among themselves
without guest representation.
Table 5. Guest
representation
|
Guest
representation
|
Count
|
TV Stations
|
|
One-Sided
Guest Representation: Only Pro Atheist
|
2
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
|
One-Sided
Guest Representation: Only Anti Atheist
|
3
|
Al Manar, NBN
|
|
Two-Sided Guest Representation
|
6
|
Future TV, MTV,
Al Jadeed TV, TL
|
|
No Guest
Representation
|
3
|
Future TV, Al Jadeed TV, LBCI
|
Most
TV materials produced by Lebanese TV stations about the topic of atheism that
we assessed were highly biased against atheists. In fact, there are only two
out of 14 materials that showed no signs of biases towards atheists. The
scoring for each of the three categories of bias is displayed in Table 6.
Table 6. Political
bias scores of assessed materials
|
BIAS CATEGORIES:
|
Content
|
Question
Design
|
Coverage
|
|
Source
|
Show
|
Direction
of Intro-duction
|
Allegat-
ions in
Questions
|
Question Tone
|
Rank of partici-
pants
|
Time
Given to Answer
|
Interrup-tions
|
|
NO GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
Tony
Khalife
|
3
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
Future
TV
|
Tele
Stars
|
3
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
LBCI
|
BBCHI
|
2
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY PRO ATHEIST
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
The
News*
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
MTV
|
Talk
of the Town
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY ANTI ATHEIST
|
|
Al
Manar
|
Abelmosk
seed*
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
Al
Manar
|
Communication*
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
NBN
|
Your
Opinion*
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
|
TWO-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
TL
|
Our
Street*
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
|
Future
TV
|
Speaking of*
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
|
MTV
|
Starting
with us*
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
Eye
for an Eye*
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
For
Publication*
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
This
is How I Am*
|
3
|
2
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
*Arabic titles of shows and
episodes are included in Appendix B.
With this
information, we display the degree of bias in Table 7 below:
Table 7. Degree
of bias in the assessed materials
|
Guest Representation
|
Source
|
Show
|
Score
|
Degree
of Bias
|
|
NO GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
Tony
Khalife
|
18
|
Biased
|
|
Future
TV
|
Tele
Stars
|
18
|
Biased
|
|
LBCI
|
BBCHI
|
12
|
Neutral
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION:
ONLY PRO ATHEIST
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
The
news*
|
12
|
Neutral
|
|
MTV
|
Talk
of the Town
|
14
|
Somewhat Biased
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION:
ONLY ANTI ATHEIST
|
Al
Manar
|
Abelmosk
seed*
|
16
|
Biased
|
|
Al
Manar
|
Communication*
|
18
|
Biased
|
|
NBN
|
Your
opinion*
|
18
|
Biased
|
|
TWO-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
TL
|
Our
Street*
|
12
|
Neutral
|
|
Future
TV
|
Speaking of*
|
15
|
Somewhat Biased
|
|
MTV
|
Starting
with us*
|
14
|
Somewhat Biased
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
Eye
for an Eye*
|
13
|
Somewhat Biased
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
For
publication*
|
17
|
Biased
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
This
is How I Am*
|
17
|
Biased
|
In
this section, we display a detailed analysis of the assessed materials in terms
of guest representation and biases.
As
shown in Table 8, when no guests
were included, both Al Jadeed TV and Future TV were highly biased
against atheism.
Table 8. Political
bias index dimension scores for material that did not include guest
representation
|
Source
|
Show
|
Direction
of
Introduction
|
Allegations
in Questions
|
Question
Tone
|
Rank of participants
|
Time Given
to Answer
|
Interruptions
|
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
Tony Khalife
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Future TV
|
Tele Stars
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LBCI
|
BBCHI TV show
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Biased
|
Neutral
|
Not
Applicable
|
Content Bias:
Direction of
Introduction
The
content bias dimension ‘direction of introduction’ was the only dimension that
applied to material that did not include guest representation. Although only
three examples were identified in our search, talk show host monologues were,
on two occasions, highly biased against atheism. As exemplified by the quote
below, Tony Khalife engaged in such a monologue where he ranted about
atheists ‘abusing’ freedom of speech to hurt the religious feelings of others
[14]. Hosts of the LBCI comedic talk show, BBCHI TV show,
attempted to disambiguate secularism by humorously emphasizing that being a
secular does not necessitate being an atheism.
Amidst religious debates among
Christians, among Muslims, between Christians and Muslims, and (more
alarmingly) now between atheists and religious people. We always say that we
respect each person regardless of their convictions. If you are an atheist, I
respect you and I respect your convictions, but I will not allow you to insult
me, to belittle my dignity and to assault my sanctities. You are free to be an
atheist. Practice your atheism however you want. May Allah judge you as he
finds fit. You are free to believe in God or not. In the end, your account is
with our Lord. But more abominable than being an atheist, how dare you ridicule
our sanctities, prophets, and saints? How dare you use those despicable
expressions like you to make fun of what we revere? No, we will not allow you.
If you are foulmouthed, and you have ill-spoken followers on social media,
insult us all you want. You are incapable of accomplishing anything with your
insults. We are ready to accept you despite your issues. We have no problem (with your issues), my brother. If you
are an atheist, practice your atheism as you wish. I do not have any
problems with you. I am a believer. I want to practice my faith, and it is forbidden for you to have any business with my
faith. You are forbidden from offending my faith. It is impermissible
for you to approach my religion, nor any of my sanctities, in any way. You are
an atheist. It is up to you if you want to be an atheist, it is your loss. But
do not dare thinking that by being an atheist you can refer to my saints and
prophets with ugly insults like you.
Al Jadeed TV – Tony Khalife, Episode 09/03/2020
(0:00:00 – 0:01:28)
Around
half the material (6) included representation of guests both favorable and
unfavorable to atheism. Two TV stations, Al Manar and NBN, never
hosted guests favorable to atheism, while only a single TV station, Al
Jadeed TV, hosted only pro atheism and neutral guests in a news story.
The
scores of the episodes that had guest representation are displayed in Table 9 below.
Table 9. Political
bias index dimension scores for material that included guest representation
|
BIAS CATEGORIES:
|
Content
|
Question
Design
|
Coverage
|
|
Source
|
Show
|
Direction
of Intro-duction
|
Allegat-
ions in
Questions
|
Question Tone
|
Rank of partici-
pants
|
Time
Given to Answer
|
Interrup-tions
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY PRO ATHEIST
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
The
News*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MTV
|
Talk
of the Town
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY ANTI ATHEIST
|
|
Al
Manar
|
Abelmosk
seed*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Al
Manar
|
Communication*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NBN
|
Your
opinion*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TWO-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
TL
|
Our
Street*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Future
TV
|
Speaking of*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
MTV
|
Starting
with us*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
Eye
for an Eye*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
For
publication*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Al
Jadeed TV
|
This
is How I Am*
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
*Arabic titles of shows and
episodes are included in Appendix B
As
shown in Table 10, bias against
atheists on Lebanese TV stations generally manifested in unfavorable question
tone and introduction. When applicable, coverage was compromised mostly through
interrupting atheist participants. The only favorable instance occurred when
the presenter, Tony Khalife, hosted Ziad Njeim, both TV
journalists.
Table 10. Aggregation
of political bias index dimension scores for material that included guest
representation
|
Content
Bias
|
Question
Design Bias
|
Coverage
Bias
|
|
|
|
|
Direction
of
Introduction
|
Allegations
in Questions
|
Question
Tone
|
Ranks
of
Participants
|
Time
Given
per Answer
|
Interruptions
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
100%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Favorable
|
Neutral
|
Biased
|
|
Not Applicable
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3.2.2.1. Content
Bias
Direction of Introduction
Introductions
of talk shows by TL, Future TV and MTV were neutral.
Direction of introduction of all analyzed material was never pro atheism. All
introductions of talk shows by Al Manar, NBN and Al Jadeed TV
were consistently biased against atheism. However, when it comes to direction
of introduction of Al Jadeed TV materials, there was only one exception:
a news story with a neutral direction of introduction. This news story was
produced back in 2011.
The
following quote is the introduction to Al Manar channel Tawasol
(Communication)’s episode on atheism [15]. Ms. Doaa Al Hajj,
the presenter of the talk show, describes atheism as a deviance from an innate
state of religiosity, a condition that is best kept to oneself, as she then
alluded.
As-salamu alaykum. Quoting the
Noble Prophet may God’s blessings and peace be upon him and his family, he
said: Every child is born with the innate knowledge that God Almighty is his creator.
What drives people to deviate from this instinct and turn towards atheism? What
is atheism? What are the types of atheism? Are questions that emanate from
doubt considered infidelity? What is the role of parents in raising a son who
is a believer or (one who is) an atheist? Dear viewers, these questions and
others will be the focus of our conversation today with our guest in the studio,
Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Choucair, so I welcome you, Honorable Sheikh (…).
Al Manar (n. d.) – Tawasol (Communication), (0:00:32 – 0:01:10)
3.2.2.2.
Question Design Bias
Question Tone
Question
tone was generally unfavorable to atheism. This was the case in over 63% of the
assessed material in this category. In the extreme case of Al Jadeed TV’s
Rima Karaki’s interview talk show with Khalaf Abou Khalaf, a once
Muslim sheikh who expressed skepticism and criticism towards orthodox Islam, Karaki
questioned Khalaf’s exercise of freedom
of speech [16].
Rima Karaki: You chose to be atheist;
this is your business. But why did you declare this thing on YouTube and insult
religion in the way you did?
Al Jadeed TV (n. d.) – Lin-Nashr (For Publication),
(0:08:46 –
0:08:55)
Allegations in Questions
Although
the presenters in most assessed material in this category did not make
allegations in their questions, it is important to point out that, in some
instances, the presenters used published social media posts as sources in order
to make allegations against interviewed atheists. Allegations without sources
were more frequently made in material that excluded atheists as guests. Such
allegations included claims that atheists are mobilizing against religion and
attempting to proselytize the religious. For instance, in NBN’s
interview with Nour Al Assi concerning her graduation project, the fresh
graduate at the time was asked if she had reconsidered her faith after engaging
with atheists [17].
The last question, as a believer
and a veiled woman, were you convinced (to reconsider your faith) following the
(atheistic) statements you encountered while producing your film?
NBN (n. d.) – Ra’yak (Your Opinion), (0:05:17 – 0:05:25)
3.2.2.3.
Coverage Bias
Ranks of Participants
This
dimension was only relevant to talk shows that hosted pro atheist guests as
well as religious ones. Half the talk shows were neutral in their guest
introduction. However, three talk shows stood out.
When
it comes to ranks of participants in the sense of introducing guests at
different times, two talk shows on Al Jadeed were significantly biased
against atheists. Al Jadeed TV’s Ana Heik (This Is How I Am) invited
a lecturer of geology at the American University of Beirut and outspoken
atheist, Dr. Ali Talal Haidar, to debate a “penitent evildoer” who was
taking the role of a religious apologetic. Lin-Nashr (For Publication) invited
ex- sheikh Khalaf Abou Khalaf to a debate with Sheikh Jamil Halim. The
title of the segment was ‘a Sheikh shares his experience’. On both
occasions, Al Jadeed TV gave less time to pro atheist guests by signify-cantly
delaying them from participation. In these instances, respectively, 34% and
73%, of the duration of the shows had passed where only the host and the
religious guest talked before introducing the pro atheist guest.
On the other hand, in Future TV’s Sira
w-Infata’hit (Speaking of), the ‘main guests’ included a religious family
patriarch as well as a psychologist. Pro atheist participants were the friends
of the Lebanese activist who committed suicide, Nour Merheb. They were
seated along with members of the audience but still allowed to participate as
though they were guests. At the time of producing the talk show, the pro
atheist friends of Nour Merheb were in their teenage years and early
twenties.
Time Given to Answer
All
14 materials were watched and the time given to answer was recorded. Around 50% of the assessed material systematically gave
less time for atheists.
Although
time given to answer was not included as a dimension in assessing shows with
one-sided guest representation, excluding atheist participation can be thought
of as one way to not give time to answer. Two TV stations, Al Manar and NBN,
did that by consistently excluding pro atheist participation.
In
Sira w-Infata’hit (Speaking of), Future TV did not include pro
atheist participants as main guests. Instead, pro atheist participants were
seated along with members of the audience but still allowed to participate as
though they were guests. The ‘main guests’, which included a family patriarch –
the male head of the family – and a psychologist, were naturally given
precedence.
The
presenter of Al Jadeed TV’s Lin-Nashr was unexpectedly explicit in her desire
to allocate the entire episode for the religious participant [16].
Al Jadeed TV (n. d.) – Lin-nashr (For Publication),
(0:12:55 – 0:13:00)
Interruptions
The presenters in more than 66%
of talk shows that included both pro atheist and opposed guests interrupted pro
atheist guests more than their opponents. In the example below, the
presenter, Nishan Derharoutyounian, does not only interrupt the atheist participant,
Ali Haidar, but also shows no regard to the content of his statement [18].
Ali Haidar: The main difference
is that the religious individual can refer to their holy books…
Nishan Derharoutyounian:
Tony?
Tony Franjieh: I just want to
comment on the last point…
Ali Haidar: …they would arrive at
a (moral) judgement, while the secular needs to stay updated with the new
findings of science…
Nishan Derharoutyounian: Tony, go
ahead.
Al Jadeed TV (n. d.) –
Ana Heik (This is How I Am), (1:15:58 – 1:16:10)
Although
the approach we followed is not new in media analysis, no work is immune to
some limitations, especially in the field of social sciences. The limitations
in our analysis can be put in two categories: method design limitations and data
or statistical limitations.
Method design limitations
One
of the shortcomings of the method that we have employed, which was a modified
version of the approach used in [4], is that it gives equal weight to each of
the six dimensions of bias that we introduced. It could be argued that,
depending on the context, one dimension could have been more relevant than
another one, and so deserves more weight. Similarly, other dimensions could
have been also included. However, and after assessing all the material we
collected, we felt that the dimensions used were highly relevant, and that the
assessment was generally fair. Although this method has its limitations, we
believe that the results it gives are more accurate than a naive qualitative
subjective assessment.
Data or statistical
limitations
TV
channel content is not uniformly archived or publicly shared. Consequently,
search for content on atheism through the internet probably did not result in
compiling all material on the topic that was produced in the last 10 years. In
one case, only an abridged version of an episode was available online. In this
case, we resorted to conducting phone meetings with some of the participants to
compensate for the unavailability of the full material.
Studies
on media bias in the MENA region have often focused on media representation of
different parties involved in regional conflict. In the 80s, for instance, such
studies focused on media bias towards different sides of the Arab-Israeli
conflict (e.g. [5], [6]). After the Arab Spring, we find a canon of
publications assessing media bias in the representation of the revolutions that
took place, such as the Yemeni revolution, e.g. [7], and the Syrian revolution,
e.g. [8]. Studies on media bias towards cultural groups in this region, such as
Arab citizens in Israel, e.g. [9] and homosexuals [10], have been tangibly
rare.
As
in other parts of the MENA region, examples of Lebanese media overtly dealing
with the issue of atheism and unbelief are scarce [11]. As with the media
representation of homosexuals in Arabic-language news outlets, the findings
revealed that atheists are under-represented on Lebanese TV channels, and
whenever they are present in the news reports, they are depicted negatively [10].
In
line with the notion that communal religious practice does tend to promote
intolerant attitudes [12], our analysis found that TV channels engaged in
promoting communal religious practice in Lebanon exhibited highest bias against
atheists.
A
few studies and news articles highlighted the important role played by social
media for atheists in the MENA region [11, 13]. For instance, social media
radically contributed to the creation of numerous networks facilitating
atheists’ interactions and mutual support. Declarations of unbelief and
criticism of religion were forms of “liberation” and self-recognition
facilitated by social media. This public exercise of free speech by atheists on
social media has prompted two Lebanese TV stations to bring up atheism as a
topic for news stories and talk shows.
In the old days, an atheist would
not publicly reveal themselves. They would seek to disguise their disbelief.
They would not even disclose their thoughts before others. Today, because of
social media, we have pages (dedicated) for atheists to boldly speak their
minds. This is clearly visible if we thoroughly inspect social media platforms.
Al Manar (n. d.) – Tawasol (Communication), (0:01:19 – 0:01:44)
Atheists
are presented as a foreign other, e.g. [18]. In
Lebanese media they are often lumped with ‘unnatural phenomena’ such as suicide
and devil worship.
Nishan Derharoutyounian:
Hallelujah.
Tony Franjieh: Amen.
Nishan Derharoutyounian: After
the break, Ziad )the religious apologetic( versus the
other, Dr. Ali Haidar.
Al Jadeed TV (n. d.) – Ana Heik (This is How I Am),
(1:02:41 – 1:02:49)
The
most interviewed pro atheist guest on Lebanese talk shows was Ziad Njeim.
Dr. Njeim is a Lebanese journalist and doctor who presented the program Referendum
on MTV. He then moved to Al-Hurra channel, where he presented the
Free Hour program, which dealt with taboo topics in the Arab world such
as incest and same-sex marriage. Dr. Njeim was interviewed in interview
talk shows as a pro atheism guest. Furthermore, issue-based talk shows that
hosted Dr. Njeim consistently brought up the topic of atheism. However, Dr.
Njeim, who describes himself as the ‘emperor of provocation’, never
explicitly described himself as an atheist nor as a person who explicitly lacks
belief in God. This is to say that the most interviewed pro atheist guest on
Lebanese talk shows is not representative of Lebanese atheists but is
alternatively in line with the scandalous facet of the talk shows that usually
raise this topic.
Although on two instances the representation of
atheists was dealt with in a neutral light, serious discussion of atheism on
Lebanese TVs on the other hand sought to either demonize or alienate this
subgroup. This observed ‘demonization’ and ‘alienation’ of atheists is in line
with the reality that most TV stations in Lebanon are owned or run by
representatives of sectarian groups.
Appendix A. Quotes in Original Language
|
Serial
|
Segment
|
Original Arabic Transcript
|
|
70
|
0:12:55
0:13:00
|
ريما
كركي: أنا
بالنسبة إلي
فيني أعطيك
كلّ الحلقة
بس إدارة التلفزيون...
الشيخ:
الله يسلّمك
|
|
106
|
0:00:00
0:01:28
|
في هذا
السجال
الديني يلّي
صاير مسيحيًا-مسيحيًا
و إسلاميًا-إسلاميًا
و مسيحيًا-إسلاميًا،
و الأكتر من
هيك رحنا
بمطرح تاني:
إلحاديًا-دينيًا.
يعني فاتوا
جماعة
الإلحاد على
الخطّ. دايمًا
نحن منقول
أنا أحترم كلّ
شخص على
قناعاته. أنا
كملحد
أحترمك و أحترم
قناعاتك، بس
ما بسمحلك، لأنّك
ملحد،
تهينني و تهين
كرامتي و تهين
مقدّساتي.
إنت ملحد، حرّ.
مارس إلحادك
متل ما بدّك.
الله بيحاسبك.
إذا تؤمن
بالله أو ما
تؤمن بالله،
إنت حرّ.
بالنتيجة
حسابك عند
ربّنا. بس
إنّك تكون
ملحد، و فوق
إلحادك
تنكّت على
مقدّساتنا،
تنكّت على
أنبيائنا، و على
قدّيسينا، و تستعمل
عبارات
حقيرة متلك؟
لأ ما رح
نسمحلك. لو
إنّك شتّام و عندك
متابعين على
السوشال
ميديا و بتشتموا.
اشتموا من
هلق لمية
سنة، ما بتغيّروا
شي بشتيمتكن.
بس نحن
مستعدين
نتعايش معكن على
عللكم. ما
عندنا مشكلة
خيّي. إنت
ملحد، مارس
إلحادك، صحّتين
على قلبك،
أنا ما عندي
أي مشكلة معك.
و أنا مؤمن
بدّي مارس
إيماني و ممنوع
إنت تتعاطى
بإيماني و ممنوع
تسيء
لإيماني و ممنوع
تقرّب على
ديني و ممنوع
تقرّب على
مقدّساتي.
إنت تكون
ملحد، اسطفل،
تنضرب. ما
عندي مشكلة
معك. بس تكون
ملحد و توصف
لي قدّيسيني
و أنبيائي و أدياني
بأوصاف
بتشبهك و بتشبه
نفسيّتك و حقارتك؟
فشر على
رقبتك و رقبة
اللي متلك.
|
|
70
|
0:08:46
0:08:55
|
ريما كركي:
اخترت إنّك
تلحد، هيدا
شأنك، و إنّما
ليش إعلان
هيدا الشي و الكلام
على يوتيوب
بهيدا الشكل
و إهانة
الدين بهذه
الطريقة؟
|
|
103
|
0:00:32
0:01:10
|
السلام
عليكم. عن
النبيّ
الأكرم صلّى
الله عليه و آله
و سلّم أنّه
قال: كلّ
مولود يولد
على الفطرة
يعني
المعرفة
بأنّ الله
عزّ و جلّ
خالقه. فما
الذي يدفع
الأشخاص
للانحراف عن
هذه الفطرة و التحوّل
نحو الإلحاد؟
و ما هو الإلحاد؟
هل الإلحاد
أنواع؟ هل
تعتبر أسئلة
الشكّ كفرًا؟
ما هو دور
الأهل في
الحصول على إبنٍ
مؤمن أو
ملحد؟
مشاهدينا
الكرام، هذه
الأسئلة و غيرها
حتكون محور
حديثنا
لليوم مع
ضيفنا في الأستوديو،
فضيلة الشيخ
الدكتور
محمد شقير،
فأهلاً بكم
فضيلة الشيخ…
|
|
103
|
0:01:19
0:01:44
|
بفترة
سابقة،
الملحد ما
كان يكشف عن
حاله. كان
يتستّر عن
الموضوع. حتى
يمكن ما كان
يحكي عن أفكاره
قدّام
العالم. أمّا
اليوم، بسبب
وسائل التواصل
الإجتماعي،
بالعكس، صار
في عندنا
صفحات.
الملحدين
صاروا يحكوا
عن أفكارن
بكلّ جرأة. و هيدا
الشي إذا
منترصّد
أكتر وسائل
التواصل
الاجتماعي،
واضح للعيان.
|
|
94
|
1:15:58
1:16:10
|
علي حيدر:
هون الفرق،
إنو المؤمن
عنده كتب سماوية
إذا قري فيها...
نيشان
ديرهاروتيونيان:
طوني...
طوني
فرنجية: أنا
شوي بدي علّق
على آخر نقطة...
علي حيدر:
...بيوصل
لنتيجة،
بينما
العلماني بدو
يضل يتابع
آخر ما توصّل
إليه العلم...
نيشان
ديرهاروتيونيان:
طوني تفضلّ.
|
|
100
|
0:05:17
0:05:25
|
كفتاة محجّبة
و مؤمنة،
السؤال
الأخير:
قنعوكي
استصراحات
يلّي
قابلتيهن
بفيلمك؟
|
|
94
|
1:02:41
1:02:49
|
نيشان
ديرهاروتنيان:
هاليلويا.
زياد
فرنجية: آمين.
نيشان
ديرهاروتنيان:
بعد الفاصل، طوني
و الآخر،
الدكتور علي
حيدر.
|
Appendix B. Arabic
Titles of Shows and Episodes
|
Serial
|
Source
|
Show
|
Transliteration of Show Name
|
Type
|
Original Title
|
Transliteration of Arabic Title
|
|
NO GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
106
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
طوني
خليفة
|
Tony Khalife
|
Interview
talk show
|
حلقة
09/03/2020
|
Halakat
09/03/2020
|
|
95
|
Future TV
|
Tele Stars
|
|
Interview
talk show
|
زياد
نجيم ملحد أو
لأ
|
Ziad Njeim
Mulhid Aw La’a
|
|
44
|
LBCI
|
BBCHI TV show
|
|
Comedic talk
show
|
Episode 23
|
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY PRO ATHEIST
|
|
71
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
الأخبار
|
Al-Akhbar
|
News story
|
الملحدين
في لبنان
|
Al-Mulhideen
Fi Lubnan
|
|
107
|
MTV
|
Talk of the Town
|
|
Issue-based
talk show
|
زياد
نجيم
|
Ziad Njeim
|
|
ONE-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION: ONLY ANTI ATHEIST
|
|
96
|
Al Manar
|
حبة
مسك
|
Habbat Misk
|
Interview
talk show
|
29/12/2013 حلقة
|
Halakat
29/12/2013
|
|
103
|
Al Manar
|
تواصل
|
Tawasol
|
Interview
talk show
|
الإلحاد
|
Al-El’had
|
|
100
|
NBN
|
رأيك
|
Ra’ayak
|
Interview
talk show
|
كافر،
مؤمن، أم
ملحد انت شو
رأيك؟
|
Kafer, Mumin,
Enta Shu Ra’ayak?
|
|
TWO-SIDED GUEST REPRESENTATION
|
|
72
|
TL
|
شارعنا
|
Shari’ana
|
Interview
talk show
|
حرية
المعتقد في
لبنان: بين
الإلحاد
والتديّن
|
Huriyat
El-Mu’atakad Fi Lubnan: Bayn Al-El’had wa-Tadayyun
|
|
102
|
Future TV
|
سيرة
وانفتحت
|
Sira w-Infata’hit
|
Interview talk show
|
انتحار
الناشط
اللبناني
نور مرعب
|
Intihar An-Nashit Al-Lubnani Nour
Merheb
|
|
93
|
MTV
|
Menna w jerr
|
|
Comedic talk
show
|
الإلحاد
على طريقة
العين
بالعين
|
Al-Elhad Ala
Tarikat El-Ayn Bil-Ayn
|
|
1
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
العين
بالعين
|
El-Ayn
Bil-Ayn
|
Interview
talk show
|
الإلحاد
|
Al-Elhad
|
|
70
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
للنشر
|
Lin-Nashr
|
Interview
talk show
|
شيخٌ
يحكي
تجربتَه...
|
Shaykhun
Yah’ki Tajribatah…
|
|
94
|
Al Jadeed TV
|
انا
هيك
|
Ana Heik
|
Interview
talk show
|
الملحد
في مواجهة
الفاجر
التائب
|
Al-Mulhid Fi
Muwajahat Al-Fajir At-Ta’eb
|
This report has been produced with the
financial support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.
The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the publishers
and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position
of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.
We would like
to thank Mazen Abou Hamdan for reviewing this work, Ali Shreif for proofreading
it and Ayman El Kaissi for formatting the final version.
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