Media's freedom restricted

Journalists and legal experts on October 6 agreed that free access to information was not a reality in the Arab world, and discussed ways to protect national cultures from the risks of globalization.

Lebanese information minister Bassem Al Sabaa maintained that Lebanon has built a sound relationship between freedom and new information technologies through the application of several communications laws.

Using the simple equation that freedom plus modern technology equals information, Sabaa stressed that free access to information was now a "unilateral freedom enjoyed only by those international companies that control the information flow."

Sabaa's speech was delivered on his behalf by Rafik Shlala director of the National News Agency, at a regional seminar on information and communication technology.

The seminar was organized jointly by the UNESCO regional office, the French Bibliotheque, publique d'information, center Georges Pompidu, and the UNESCO chair at the Lebanese University's documentation and information faculty. The UNESCO chair was established in 1995 to promote the availability of information and to ensure global and sustainable development of Arab countries.