By Nohad Topalian | 2025-03-14

BEIRUT -- A new regional media center operating from central Beirut with a team of journalists from around the Arab world seeks to enhance Arabic content production and combat the spread of disinformation across the Middle East.

France Médias Monde's digital center, which opened February 27, will play a vital role in a media landscape Iran-backed outlets have long sought to dominate, communications experts said.

"This digital expansion of our Arabic media presence is essential at a time when misinformation and manipulation are proliferating," said France Médias Monde CEO Marie-Christine Saragosse.

The initiative leverages strong Franco-Lebanese ties, said the center's executive director and editor-in-chief Joumana Fahmy.

Funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the center is housed at the Higher Institute of Business Administration in the Beirut neighborhood of Hamra.

It employs 15 journalists from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Morocco.

The center's initial cohort underwent two months of intensive training at the France Media Academy before commencing their work, officials said.

"At a time when every citizen has become a potential media outlet through social media, our journalists and correspondents will rigorously verify all news to combat rampant misinformation," Fahmy said.

They will do this in cooperation with monitoring teams in France, she said.

The center's journalists will produce digital content for France 24 and Monte Carlo Doualiya, and daily programs on Gulf news, health, environment, economy and society, with special focus on youth initiatives across the Arab world.

Lebanon's media battleground

In Lebanon and elsewhere in the region, extremist groups and Iran-backed groups such as Hizbullah have established active and vocal media outlets to propagate their own ideology and agenda.

Groups like Hizbullah also have sought to suppress freedom of speech by targeting outlets and journalists that dare to speak out against them.

The new center aims to provide a trustworthy alternative.

"The information environment in Lebanon is saturated with political and sectarian divisions," said Laure Sleiman, advisor to the minister of information for media affairs.

This means media outlets "sometimes turn into propaganda tools instead of platforms for truth," she told Al-Fassel, noting that she has personally experienced pressure to spread misinformation over the course of her career.

"Beirut always has been the capital of Arab media and a beacon of press freedom," Sleiman said.

"This initiative reaffirms its historic role as a hub for communication and culture in the Arab region, despite current political, economic and social challenges."

The center is more than just a media initiative, she stressed.

"It's an opportunity to enhance credibility and support solid journalism, sending a message that Lebanon can regain its position as a platform for constructive dialogue and accurate information," she said.