The year 2024 bore witness to a dangerous escalation of repression, surveillance, and targeted attacks on the very individuals who serve as society’s eyes and ears: journalists and media workers. Across Lebanon, the broader region, and beyond, state and non-state actors deployed propaganda, hate campaigns, and digital smear operations to muzzle dissent and stifle free expression. These tactics were not isolated incidents; they were part of a systematic attempt to erode the foundations of transparency and accountability necessary for any democratic future. It is into this environment that the Samir Kassir Foundation has endeavored to protect journalists’ safety, nurture independent voices across the media sector, and dive into the murky waters of information manipulation campaigns.
Confronting the Machinery of Control
Diplomats, scholars, and advocates will recognize a pattern that is playing out beyond Lebanon’s borders. We are observing not merely a clampdown on free speech, but a strategic entrenchment of authoritarian practices. From orchestrated online hate against journalists, to flawed regulatory frameworks that fail to protect personal data, every tool of repression is designed to keep citizens uninformed and afraid. The results are tangible: social fabrics frayed by misinformation, investigative journalists harassed or sued into silence, and entire communities starved of objective, verifiable information.
Press Freedom in the Crosshairs
At the Samir Kassir Foundation, we documented how tactics once reserved for high-profile dissidents have become the norm. Legal action against journalists, authorities’ intimidation of media outlets, and digital smear campaigns against journalists and commentators are not just sporadic practices; they are morphing into systematic measures to maintain the status quo through fear and intimidation. This climate imperils the domestic reform agenda and undermines the pursuit of knowledge. Our message is clear: we must not allow these encroachments to become routine.
Targeting Women Journalists and Marginalized Voices
Among the most egregious patterns is the relentless targeting of women journalists. They bear the combined weight of professional discrimination, psychological harassment, and gendered hate campaigns. In a system rigged against them, these media professionals risk their safety and mental health to bring forth narratives that challenge the established powers. Their struggle is a test for the resilience of democratic values—if we cannot protect the most vulnerable truth-tellers, how can we claim to preserve democracy at all?
Hate Speech, Data Privacy, and the Legislative Vacuum
Hate speech is not just words thrown into the digital ether; it is a political weapon wielded to sabotage social unity. The normalization of hateful rhetoric in the media and social media reflects a deliberate strategy to divide and distract citizens from pressing governance failures. Coupled with the absence of a modern data protection law, journalists and citizens face a precarious double-bind: Their right to know is being stripped away as their personal data becomes a bargaining chip in power struggles they never consented to.
On the Ground and Under Fire
We provided safety training and online guidance to protect journalists covering conflict as well as personal protective equipment to more than 35 reporters during the last quarter of the year. When the basic tenets of international humanitarian law are ignored, and when peacekeepers and global powers look the other way, journalists become both witnesses and victims.
The Samir Kassir Foundation wanted to send a strong signal. Not only does it monitor violations that journalists face but it has their back whatever the challenges. Since September 23, 2024, the Foundation provided housing solutions to more than 95 journalists who were displaced by the war; an effort made possible through the daily coordination with Lebanese and international partner organizations as well as individual donors.
Looking at 2025 with Hope and Determination
As 2024 draws to a close, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to safeguarding press freedom and amplifying the voices of truth-tellers in the face of immense adversity. The end of the war in Lebanon and the growing recognition of state institutions’ critical role in protecting the country provide a glimmer of hope for a more stable and inclusive future. Coupled with the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, these developments remind us that even in the darkest moments, the persistence of those who stand for justice and transparency can ignite meaningful change. Together, we look to 2025 as a year to build on these breakthroughs, ensuring that journalists remain both the chroniclers and catalysts of progress.