The establishment of the National Media Authority is entering its implementation phase, but its members are not yet appointed. A meeting held on 3 November at the Beirut courthouse, chaired by Souheil Abboud, President of the Higher Council of the Judiciary, focused on the organization of the stages envisaged by the new law.
The Minister of Information, Paul Morcos, participated with representatives of the bodies involved in the procedure. The immediate challenge is to make candidates possible and then to conduct elections and nominations. It is not yet a matter of announcing the final composition of the proceeding.
Coordinate actors with different responsibilities
The meeting brought together lawyers and engineers from Beirut and the North, the Lebanese University ‘ s information faculty, national anti-corruption and human rights bodies, as well as press and editorial unions.
This diversity is a procedure that does not depend on a single decision. Each organization concerned must carry out its own tasks. Coordination shall cover the publication of procedures, the receipt of applications and the sequence of choices within three months of the publication of the law recalled at the meeting.
This period constitutes an obligation to organise. It does not make it possible to say that candidates are already being examined everywhere or that all elections have their date. The announcements of each organization must be distinguished from the overall calendar.
A first call opened until 18 November
The National Human Rights Commission has already begun its own work. It receives nominations from November 2 to 18, 2026, with a closing at 4 p.m., Beirut time. This procedure concerns specialists in public freedoms and human rights.
It has two distinct objectives: to elect a person directly to the National Media Authority and to propose two additional persons for the government appointment process. These two candidates must join the list drawn up by the President of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary. Their transmission is therefore not an appointment.
The appeal also provides for interviews from 24 to 27 November for candidates whose eligibility has been established. Individual applications are accepted without the obligation to sponsor. The control of access conditions remains a separate step in the assessment of competences.
Check procedure before commenting on names
In order to follow the formation of the Authority, it will be necessary to look at several successive acts: appeals, conditions of participation, decisions on eligibility, elections and then appointments to the government. A list of proposed persons should not be presented as a list of current members.
Transparency is also measured by what the public can verify. Are the rules announced before applications are closed? Are the different candidates assessed according to comparable criteria? Do the final decisions identify the body that elected or nominated each member? These questions concern the credibility of the installation without prejudice to the outcome.
Administrative start-up is a concrete step after the adoption of the law. However, it alone does not address the practical independence of the future forum. It will have to judge itself through its effective composition and the exercise of its powers. For the time being, the new development is the opening up and coordination of procedures, not the entry into office of an already constituted Authority.
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