A turbulent 2014 for Libya’s media
Violent conflict and political turmoil posed significant challenges to Libya’s media sector in the course of 2014, causing media outlets to close and hampering media development efforts by the likes of International Media Support.
Four years after the Libyan people took to the streets in what is now known as “Arab Spring”, little remains of the initial display of euphoria and unity that followed in the immediate wake of Colonel Gaddafi’s death. In 2014, there were violent clashes between Islamist groups supported by the Misrata militia, and militia groups led by former general Haftar. Legislative elections held in June resulted in a significant defeat of Islamist groups, which launched an attack on and took control over the area surrounding Tripoli in July.
The crisis resulted in serious setbacks for both independent and state media. Most print media have stopped publishing, one of Libya’s state-owned TV-channels was taken under control by the Libya Dawn coalition, and some local media outlets have closed due to the fighting and harassment by different armed groups. A few radio and TV stations and newspapers have managed to continue operations, such as the online newspaper Libya Herald. The availability of social media has made Facebook one of the main sources of information.
During Gaddafi’s rule, most media were state-controlled tools of propaganda rather than a platform for information sharing and debate. Following the revolution in 2011, new and independent media mushroomed in the country. But many of these have since been forced to shut down, or have been taken under control by militia groups, creating a strong need to establish alternative channels for reporting. For this reason, many go online and to social media to seek and share news, IMS’ work in Libya in 2015 will put additional focus on improving the quality of reporting on social media, with a special emphasis on youth.
Functioning as the central point for professionalisation and development of the Libyan media sector, the IMS-supported Libyan Media Institute has been in full operation since May 2014 in Tripoli. With local founders from the media communities in Benghazi and Tripoli, the institute has established itself as the central point for media training in Libya. Building on a positive trend of local collaboration, IMS will work to link up LMI to similar institutions in the region.
Based on IMS’ previous experience in the Middle East and North Africa, LMI is working on mapping the media landscape, in order to provide documentation on and awareness about the different media actors in the country for future media development initiatives in the country. In June 2014, IMS organised two election coverage training courses for 12 local journalists from six Tripoli newspapers, in addition to 12 journalists from all parts of Libya. IMS will in 2015 continue to support the development of Libya’s media sector, maintaining and enhancing LMI’s knowledge, visibility and credibility towards media professionals, civil society and international partners.
