Beirut (AFP)
A Lebanese television channel affiliated with Prime Minister Saad Hariri has stopped transmitting new programs, an employee said Thursday that a strike due "more than 16 months of unpaid wages" was underway.
For the past three days, Future TV, the main media relay of Mr. Hariri's Future Current, has not broadcast new information and only reruns.
This is the first strike in the history of the chain, created in 1993 by Rafic Hariri, former Prime Minister, billionaire assassinated in 2005 and father of the current head of the Lebanese government.
"This is the first time such a broad-based movement has emerged," an employee told AFP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, adding that news programs and other broadcasts had been arrested and the management had not yet responded to the strikers.
According to him, it has been years since payments are irregular or incomplete due to the financial crisis and the situation has worsened for a year and a half in a sector in crisis.
This adds to the crisis experienced by institutions affiliated with Mr. Hariri. In January, the Hariri-owned daily Al-Moustaqbal published its latest paper edition, 20 years after its creation.
Construction giant Saudi Oger, the founding stone of the Hariri empire, collapsed in 2017, pushing thousands of its employees to leave Saudi Arabia with unpaid wages and no compensation.
The Lebanese media landscape is riddled with private groups often affiliated with at least one of the many political parties, which are often a source of funding for the media, leaving little room for an independent press.
© 2019 AFP