After Al-Jadeed’s broadcast that bluntly criticized Michel Aoun on Tuesday, the Media Office of the Lebanese Presidency issued a statement calling out the local TV station for fabricating false stories, saying that they’re “not fooling anyone.”
The statement issued: “Al-Jadeed TV station continues to fabricate false stories and put the name of the President of Lebanon, General Michel Aoun, in these stories.”
“The last one was a broadcast that included an introduction of a news bulletin about the interference of the President in the investigation of the crime of the port explosion,” it added.
The statement claimed that the story is “unfounded” and is “a figment of the imagination of the team that daily broadcasts false news.” It added that Michel Aoun has never interfered in any way in the investigation of the disastrous Beirut Port explosion.
The Lebanese Presidency office continued to accuse the TV station of sharing fake news, allegedly aiming at slandering the president.
It issued that “the time has come for Al-Jadeed to stop broadcasting false allegations that no longer fool anyone, and which negatively affect the course of the investigation.”
The statement was issued right after Al-Jadeed filed a lawsuit against Aoun’s party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), for physically attacking the TV station’s building following one of these news reports.
Al-Jadeed also responded to the attacks by initiating a “Freedom For The Media” campaign.
The local TV station denounced the attacks by Michel Aoun’s supporters, whom they accused of supporting the person “behind the downfall of the country.”
It is to note that this isn’t the first time that the presidency directly opposes the local press.
By the end of August of this year, it banned MTV reporters from entering the presidential palace, segregating them from all other news media reporters on-site, and then issuing an official notice.
MTV, which “tone” and “use of words” in regards to the president was deemed offensive by his media office, responded to the banning with more similar broadcasts and a lawsuit against the presidency on September 4th.
