Scrutinising media coverage in Lebanon and Jordan
Hundreds of thousands of migrants work in Lebanon and Jordan. In many cases they are unaware of their rights and legal status. A new project takes a close look at how the media deals with their issues
The two members of the IMS-supported Arab Working Group (AWG), the Jordanian Commission for Democratic Culture and Maharat have commenced a cross-national project to monitor the two countries’ media coverage of migrant workers’ conditions.
Aiming to raise awareness of minority issues and marginalised groups in society, the monitoring looks at a total of 24 media outlets covering print, radio, TV and online to measure their commitment to fair and unbiased coverage of the migrant workers’ issues.
Unaware of their rights and duties
Considered attractive countries for many migrant workers, Lebanon and Jordan are hosting hundreds of thousands of immigrants willing and able to join the work force. Coming from especially East Asian countries, they often work in the homes of wealthy families, in agriculture or other manual labor sectors.
According to the Lebanese Minister for Labour, Lebanon is approaching 170,000 foreign workers. Many are not aware of their rights and duties, and few regulatory tools exist to guide them in their work conditions. Both countries also see an absence of trade unions defending the workers’ rights.
– Our initial observations indicate that most of the media coverage [of issues of foreign workers] focus on the security forces’ arrest and prosecution of the workers, often because of illegal entry or a lack of legal papers, says the project coordinator from the Lebanese NGO Maharat.
The thematic media monitoring project in Lebanon and Jordan which is set to continue until early March, marks an expansion of AWG’s work which has so far been concerned with elections and transitional periods for country’s emerging from conflict. The Jordanian Commission for Democratic Culture and the Lebanese NGO Maharat are both members of the IMS-supported Arab Working Group (AWG), a network of Arabic human rights organisations.
