Lebanese newspaper AnNahar—one of the most prominent media outlets in the Middle East—has garnered international recognition for its bold efforts standing up for freedom of speech and democracy. Its latest stunt continues in the same vein by reviving publications that were shut down due to political pressure and dysfunction.
On Dec. 12, readers who picked up the daily edition of AnNahar were met with a surprise. Inside its pages were spreads from six shuttered newspapers, written by those publications’ former staff. AnNahar invited the sidelined journalists to take over its paper and write that day’s stories in celebration of press freedom.
“Newspapers Inside the Newspaper,” created by agency Impact BBDO’s Beirut and Dubai teams, draws attention to the crisis in Lebanon’s media sector. Political corruption and economic instability have forced dozens of publications to close and waves of journalists to leave the profession, thus weakening press freedom in the country.
The special edition also coincided with the anniversary of the death of former AnNahar editor-in-chief and politician Gebran Tueni, who was assassinated in 2005 after speaking out against Syrian domination of Lebanon. Tueni was a key voice in the 2005 Cedar Revolution, a Lebanese independence movement.
With this campaign, AnNahar aims to convey the message that although journalists and activists including Tueni were suppressed, the voice of the free press can never be silenced.
“For AnNahar it is not enough to just say that we support freedom of the press,” the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Nayla Tueni said in a statement. “We have to prove it. And what better way to do that than to bring back to life some of the publications that were silenced and to give them one more chance to speak freely.”
Print as protest
This is the latest initiative in which AnNahar subverted the medium of print to advocate for democracy.
Earlier this year, the publication won a Cannes Lions Grand Prix in Print and Publishing for “The Elections Edition,” which took a stand against public officials who were trying to obstruct elections by claiming that ballots couldn’t be printed due to shortages of paper and ink. AnNahar sent a message by deciding not to go to press with its daily paper on Feb. 2, 2022. The non-existent edition went viral and became part of a movement to ensure elections took place.
In 2019, AnNahar also won the Print and Publishing Grand Prix at Cannes for “The Blank Edition,” a similar stunt that printed a blank newspaper. The white space was a protest against political stalemate after elected officials had failed to form a government for months on end.
CREDITS:
Agency: Impact BBDO Beirut and Dubai
Chairman and CEO: Dani Richa
Managing director: Emile Tabanji
Chief creative officer: Ali Rez
Regional executive creative director: Joe Abou-Khaled
Senior art director: Anthony Asmar
Head of copy: Tarek Bacha
Associate creative director: Jarrad Pitts
Junior copywriter: Neamtallah Alam
Head of multimedia: Ramy Tannous
Traffic coordinator: Murtaza Talib
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