With its latest edition, An-Nahar Newspaper is taking a strong and poignant stance against the alarming death toll of journalists around the world, by releasing its daily edition as a foldable on-field guide dedicated to saving the lives of journalists.
An-Nahar, the Lebanese political newspaper, in collaboration with IMPACT BBDO, used its pages to create and distribute The Essential Press Guide from the Middle East – together with a free online and on-ground curriculum hosted by subject matter experts and open to all journalists across the world.
The newspaper that is described by the New York Times and Time Magazine as the newspaper of record of the Arab world ovbiously couldn't stand still watching journalists' death toll rise by the day the world over. As always it has to take a stance the way it has used its readers to doing it.
“Today, we give our words to protect those that write them,” states An-Nahar Editor-in-Chief Nayla Tueni. “Every single day, journalists in the Middle East and across the world are exposed to threats to their safety and well-being. Too often, they are silenced all together. We know this all too well. Our own editor-in-chief, my father, Gibran Tueni, was assassinated in 2005.”
The foldable edition provides essential survival information that the legacy newspaper has accrued, including How to spot a sniper, Treating a gunshot wound in the field, and Inspecting your vehicles from bombs and other threats.
The edition also includes an invite to a special training session at An-Nahar headquarters in Beirut and online, completely free, for journalists willing to learn from the International Red Cross and other speakers who have worked in combat zones.
While the edition is intended to be folded and kept as a critical field guide for reporting in the most dangerous area of the world, it is equally dedicated to demanding that the international community, governments, NGOs and media organizations come together for the establishment and enforcement of a crucial international law and framework for the protection of journalist in war zones, armed conflicts, protests and all high-risk areas, with a petition that every reader is empowered to sign and share.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced on 31 December that 120 journalists were killed in 2023, the majority of whom lost their lives in the Middle East.
“Many died wearing blue flak jackets and helmets with PRESS written on them. In fact, this does very little to offer them any form of additional protection,” says Tueni.
In light of this dramatic rise in death toll, the IFJ calls on world governments to swiftly adopt an international binding Convention to protect journalists’ safety and independence – a call that An-Nahar’s ‘Essential Press Guide From the Middle East’ aims to not only echo, but amplify to enact global change.
