The "Crime" called Journalism

Lebanon's banking and media elite set a bad precedent by pressing criminal charges against a daring independent investigative news site for doing its job too well.

Alia Ibrahim in Mosul 2017. Photo for Forecast by Talal Khoury

When journalists anger subjects of their investigations, the targets usually dismiss the stories as untrue, or as “woke,” or file lawsuits to air their grievances in civil courtrooms. A different kind of script, carrying dire implications for journalism, is now unfolding in Lebanon, involving Daraj Media, a daring independent news site in a region of the world where much of the media operate as government mouthpieces.

Located just east of downtown Beirut, Daraj regularly produces high-quality, independent investigative journalism that seamlessly blends old and new journalistic techniques, much like the contemporary and classic architecture that surrounds its small offices in a crowded, war-torn city known for conflict and controversy.

Founded in 2016 by a group of journalists concerned about the durability of Arab Spring reforms that toppled dictators from 2010 to 2014, the Daraj journalists decided they had to forge a different path.

“We became convinced that, as journalists working for mainstream media, we were part of the problem,” says Alia Ibrahim, a Daraj co-founder and currently the organization’s chief executive officer.

“What had started as inspiring protests across the region,” she says, “had turned into a civil war in Libya, a violent human crisis in Yemen, the rise of ISIS, the survival of the Assad regime in Syria, and the return of more oppressive dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.

“The polarization of the politically funded media that paid our salaries was part of the problem, and that’s why we launched Daraj, which in Arabic means ‘Stairway. “We just wanted anything to get us out of the deep hole we felt we were in, one little step at a time.”

Daraj created the tagline “The Third Story,” which serves as Daraj’s journalistic North Star: Independent journalism dedicated to stories that go beyond the superficial Sunni versus Shia, Saudi versus Iran, and Regime versus Islamist news reporting that characterizes much of the region’s journalism.

“We are 100-percent owned by journalists,” she says, “Our priority is producing good journalism, and our loyalty is exclusively to the public interest.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I recruited Ibrahim to join the board of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks when I chaired the non-paying board of the MBN — U.S. government-funded networks created to provide objective and factual news to the Middle East and North Africa. The Trump administration has moved to kill the MBN, and I haven’t been involved with the organization for more than a year.

When I was still at MBN searching for new board members, though, Ibrahim’s journalism impressed me, as did her role in founding Daraj, one of the few independent news voices in Lebanon, a parliamentary democratic republic constrained by sectarian power-sharing and marred by political instability, democratic backsliding, and press freedom in name only.

Since its founding, Daraj has produced stories on underreported issues, including minority rights, gender issues, environmental concerns, and freedom of expression. In Washington, such problems are considered “woke” — dismissive concerns that anger the people who populate the administration of American President Donald Trump. He’s now on a campaign to purge any mention of them from U.S. government agencies. In the Middle East, influential individuals also consider stories about so-called “woke” issues as threats to an established order dominated by men. Daraj’s experience illustrates how those in power can escalate such conflicts into something far more serious, particularly when the stakes are high.

Daraj pioneered collaborative investigative journalism projects, including stories that transcend strictly Lebanese issues, such as the “Paradise Papers,” a global investigative project that exposed the offshore financial dealings of some of the world’s most powerful individuals and companies. Daraj partnered on “Dubai Unlocked,” which revealed how Dubai has become a glittering global hub for illicit wealth, money laundering, corruption, and criminal networks that exploit the city’s lax financial regulations.

However, the “Third Way” story that carries the most serious consequences is strictly of Lebanese origin. Daraj journalists focused on deep-rooted corruption in Lebanon’s powerful banking industry. The organization exposed how top Lebanese bank executives, and a long-time financial power broker, allegedly engaged in illegal profiteering and collusion with political elites and the Lebanese equivalent of the U.S. Federal Reserve. The reports accused the bankers of gambling with client deposits and reaping profits during an era of “financial engineering” orchestrated by a veteran top Central Bank Governor.

The exposé shook Lebanese banking and economic circles, triggering financial market turmoil and a rupture in a banking system once regarded as modern and stable. The investigation came after a crippling economic collapse that has cut Lebanon’s gross domestic product by about a third. The reports also had repercussions far beyond Beirut. Daraj reporting led to legal actions in Switzerland, including asset freezes in seven countries and ongoing official probes targeting both banks and their executives.

When the banks struck back at Daraj, though, they went beyond the usual arsenal of techniques that targets of investigative journalism employ in efforts to undermine reports that hit too close to home. Daraj says they parlayed their contacts in the government and Lebanese media to engineer criminal investigations and a smear campaign against Daraj journalists who have repeatedly been summoned by Lebanon’s Cybercrime Bureau and the public prosecutor’s office. Typically, Lebanon’s Publications Court handles issues related to the media and publications, including libel and defamation. Daraj’s critics bypassed the court set up for press complaints and also filed a bevy of lawsuits.

The complaints against Daraj and another independent new operation, Megaphone News, accused the journalists of undermining confidence in the state’s financial standing, undermining confidence in the local currency, inciting the withdrawal of bank deposits and the sale of government bonds and of suspicious foreign financing, a reference to funding extended to Daraj by the Open Society Foundation, the philanthropic arm of an organization controlled by the Jewish billionaire George Soros.

“In total,” Ibrahim says, “we are currently facing nine lawsuits, four of which have been filed in the last few weeks. They were accompanied by an intense media campaign, demonizing Daraj and accusing us of numerous charges, including holding us responsible for the collapse of the economy in Lebanon. This, of course, is a ridiculous allegation. We started our investigations concerning the central bank in 2020,” long after the nation’s current economic problems, which are intensified by a dysfunctional political system that has long plagued Beirut.

Ibrahim has openly disclosed that Daraj received financial support from the Soros foundation and others in a transparent effort to build a diversified stream of revenue that doesn’t rely too heavily on any single source of funding. She says she has never met Soros, who supports a wide range of international journalistic efforts.

Ibrahim says Daraj’s detractors use litigation and vague accusations to intimidate journalists and divert them from covering the misdeeds of Lebanon’s banking and media elites.

“Those behind the lawsuits know that there’s no way they’re going to win this case. The whole idea is to put us under pressure, so we don’t continue our work.”

She says Daraj’s adversaries are succeeding to an extent. “Whether we like it or not, the lawsuit and the accompanying noise have imposed a diversion we had to deal with, because of the reputational risk involved. We’re a tiny team of 25 people with a limited budget of $1.2 million a year, and we’re standing up against politicians, bankers, and media with unlimited resources. They can shape the narrative in any way they want. Not answering them was not an option,” she says.

Nevertheless, there’s a good side to the attacks. “In a certain way,” Ibrahim says, “this is a promotion of our work. I have to say the most heartwarming part of this whole situation is the impact that this campaign had on the morale of our team, which felt both inspired and empowered by the support of the public in general, and of our audience in particular.”

She said Daraj expects the judicial and media campaigns against independent news sites to intensify. “The host of the political talk show on MTV (Murr Television) with the highest ratings told us that the campaign will continue through the coming year until we’re eliminated, so that there’s none of us remaining. Another reason we expect this to continue is that this is an electoral year, and this is an existential moment for the stakeholders involved.”

Human Rights Watch, the international non-governmental organization that investigates human rights abuses, criticized the Lebanese efforts to muzzle Daraj and Megaphone News. “The Lebanese authorities' decision to summon them for questioning signals a willingness to allow powerful political and financial interests to instrumentalize the criminal justice system to intimidate and harass critical voices. The authorities should be protecting press freedom, not undermining it,” says Kristine Beckerle, Human Rights Watch’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa.

““The targeting of these media outlets represents a dangerous escalation in ongoing efforts to intimidate independent journalism in Lebanon and to stifle the necessary scrutiny that these outlets have provided through their reporting on the role of powerful actors in creating and prolonging the financial and economic crisis that continues to have a devastating impact on people’s rights. The Lebanese authorities must immediately dismiss the complaint and ensure independent media can continue their work without fear of intimidation or harassment.”

“The authorities’ prompt response to complaints against journalists also stands in stark contrast to the slower pace at which investigations into allegations of corruption and other misconduct, including torture, have progressed,” she says.

James O’Shea

James O’Shea is a longtime Chicago author and journalist who lives in North Carolina. He is the author of several books and is the former editor of the Los Angeles Times and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. He is also the former chairman of the board of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. Follow Jim’s Substack, Five W’s + H here.