Beirut daily blames financial crisis, regional tensions for cancellation of newspaper forum

World newspaper forum called off due to crises

BEIRUT — A Lebanese newspaper says the global financial crisis coupled with regional tensions have derailed its hosting of a world gathering of newspaper executives and editors planned for next month.

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers has said that the World Newspaper Conference that was to be held in Beirut from June 7-10 was canceled because Lebanese host An-Nahar was not able to provide the agreed funding for the event.

A World Editors Forum planned at the same time in the Lebanese capital was rescheduled for October 6-8 in Hamburg, Germany.

An-Nahar said Thursday it deeply regretted the cancellation. It said the global financial crisis and “repeated Israeli war threats against Lebanon” scared away advertisers and sponsors of the event.

Regional tensions have risen recently over Israeli claims that Syria has provided Lebanon’s Hezbollah with advanced missiles. Syria and Lebanon’s Western-backed government have denied the accusations which provoked exchanges of warnings between Israel and Hezbollah.

The 2010 world newspapers congress would have marked the first time the newspaper executives’ meeting was held in an Arab nation.

About 700 senior newspaper executives were registered for the Beirut events.