Media head refuses to cut salary

Marcel Ghanem Beirut – Ahmed el-Hajj Sources have told Arabstoday that the journalist Marcel Ghanem submitted his resignation on Tuesday, to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) after he had been pressured to cut his salary in half. This step comes after differences between the LBC and the company which produces its programmes. LBC Chairman Pierre El Daher allegedly had a dispute with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal who is the largest shareholder in the company. LBC expressed to the ministry of labour, through the Arbitral Labour Council, that it will terminate the contracts of 397 employees due to the financial situation of the company, which is owned by the Rotana group of companies. The company requested the ministry to carry out the arbitration in order to compensate the employees and contractors in accordance with the applicable laws. Owing to these issues, employees found that they had not received their March salaries at the beginning of April, an issue that occurred for the first time in LBC’s history. Reliable sources have told Arabstoday that Daher will not hire more than 250 people, which will in turn mean that more than 150 will be without work. The live broadcasting staff in Adma, Lebanon were surprised to find themselves unable to operate broadcasts in the station they had worked at for 14 years, due to the fact that the channel was now operated and broadcasted from Egypt. Ghanem is one of the most successful presenters of political programmes in Lebanese television. His began his career with the show “Kalam an-Nas” (People’s talk) in 1990 at LBC. In addition he has also taught at St Joseph University. Rumours are circulating that his brother, George, the director of new political programmes at the LBC, has resigned as well.