Written By Malek el Khazen  
 

In one of your Last Week News introduction, in response of the Patriarch of Antioch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir comments on the incident that occurred in the Bekaa, you accused the Patriarch of triggering, supporting and legitimizing the actions of citizens attacking the army, which is not a professional way to report news.

Your introduction is disrespectful to all of the Maronite community! First because it attacks our Patriarch our Holly figure and second because you paraphrased what the patriarch has said and put it out of context. You made it seem as if the Patriarch was supporting violence against the Army. In reality, His Eminence the Patriarch mentioned that any person has the right to defend its land against people trying to invade it. In this case criminals were trying to invade private lands from villagers in the Bekaa. And as any villager or owner of a land any person has the RIGHT to defend its land. In an example, in the US you have the right to bear arms and defend your land. This is in the constitution of basic Human Rights.

In this case, all what was His Eminence the Patriarch stating is for citizens to defend its property against criminals. Noone has mentioned the army except for you to build propaganda against the Patriarch. Any person that attacks the Lebanese Army should be severely punish. And we really command the army on their prudence and maintaining safety to all citizens.

New TV is an innovative channel with excellent staff news and are usually the very first to bring top quality news with unique insights to the story. And we really command them on their unique skills to keep the public updated with the fights against corruption and justice to be served.  I understand that the media need to be the one leading these stories to notify and educate public knowledge of any kind of corruption or injustice and New TV does an excellent job doing so. Unfortunately in other cases they defy the Lebanese courts and rulings when it is not convenient for the channel ie. Lebanese journalists and others cases).  You cannot hold double standard. This makes you loose all of your credibility. Instead of giving lessons to our Patriarch, start by yourself by setting the example.