Mandour (2013) discusses how the notion of sexuality in Lebanon’s media changed from 2012 to 2013. In 2012, a number of men were being shot secretly participating in sexual actions in abandoned cinema houses. The Lebanese station MTV hosted by Joe Maalouf expressed fury towards the homosexuals and called on the police to implement some actions. This led to huge rage by activists and NGOs against MTV. However, LBC acted differently upon the situation where it embraced freedom of the homosexuals. The incident led to a change of concepts from shaming homosexuals into shaming the homophobic. In 2013, another incident where the mayor of Dekwaneh acted violently on men in GHOST, a gay club in Dekwaneh, was perceived this time differently by MTV. Joe Maalouf aggressively criticized the actions of the mayor and perceived the homosexuals by a reversed approach where he presented them this time in a positive honored way. Through these incidents, there was a switch in the perception of homosexuality in the Lebanese media main stream.
References:
Mandour, S. (2013). Potential Change in Media Discourse on Sexuality in Lebanon:
“Cinema Plaza” and Beyond [Reuters Institute Fellow’s Paper]. Retrieved from:
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/potential-change-media-discoursesexuality-lebanon-cinema-plaza-and-beyond
Xiaoyue Zhang 