Minister of Information Melhem Riachi commented on Thursday evening on the closure of some media institutions and their staff’s layoff by saying “This is an unfortunate crisis, and I will do my best to find solutions to those institutions’ staff and editors, both with their employers and with the Minister of Labor with whom I have already discussed this matter.”
In a phone call with the OTV channel, Riachi said “whatever the media institution’s problems, it cannot be unfair toward its editors.”
Riachi added that the “State cannot help in matters of the sort because these are private institutions and if a certain amount is deducted from the Treasury to support newspapers, that would cause a crisis for those who do not have the same support, and this would not be fair.”
“I will meet with newspapers’ publishers as well as with the press Syndicate Head to sit down and try to find a solution to this crisis… I am ready to provide any assistance in this area,” he pledged.
