Lebanon’s The Daily Star suspends print edition over financial troubles

Lebanon's only English-language newspaper The Daily Star has announced it will temporarily stop its print edition, citing "the financial challenges facing the Lebanese press which have been exacerbated by the deterioration of the economic situation in the country".

Founded in 1952, The Daily Star has been among the leading English-language news outlets covering the Arab world. It said its online and social media platforms will remain operational.

The outlet cited "a drop to virtually no advertising revenue in the last quarter of 2019, as well as in January of this year", on top of the financial situation in Lebanon which has been deteriorating for years and has been in acute crisis over recent months.

It said it "remains hopeful that it can ride out this storm until it passes".

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The Daily Star has carried out key reporting on the ongoing protest movement that has gripped Lebanon, while many other outlets have been forced to censor their coverage of the uprising due to government links.

Last year, the paper published a newsless black issue to protest the political and economic crises gripping the country.

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The newspaper closed for more than a decade during the 1975-1990 civil war, returning to news stands in 1996.

In recent months, employees at the newspaper had complained of not being paid, with one departing journalist reporting in December that some were owed up to six months' salary.

A series of prominent dailies in Lebanon have disappeared from print due to funding shortages in recent years.

The Daily Star is the latest media outlet linked to the former premier to be struggling.

In September last year, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced the suspension of Future TV, his ailing mouthpiece whose employees had been on strike over unpaid wages.

In January 2019, the Hariri family's Al-Mustaqbal newspaper issued its last print version, 20 years after it was established.

Saudi Oger, a once-mighty construction firm that was the basis of the Hariri business empire, collapsed in 2017, leaving thousands jobless.

Hariri stepped down as prime minister in late October following unprecedented nationwide protests against alleged official corruption and ineptitude.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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