Lebanon’s oldest English-language daily newspaper, The Daily Star, has ended its operations due to the country’s economic crisis.
According to local media, in an announcement made to all employees via e-mail, the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Nadim Ladki stated that the newspaper had decided to shut down and lay off its staff.
The newspaper has been in serious economic difficulties in recent years, due to which its printing was stopped last year. Furthermore, since October 13, the newspaper’s website has not been regularly updated.
Following the closure of the newspaper, 21 employees are now expecting to receive months of due wages.
The Daily Star’s administration has been convicted by Lebanon’s Alternative Syndicate of the Press for the “collective and arbitrary dismissal” of its staff. Due to not informing employees about when months of unpaid salaries and the lack of severance packages will be given, the syndicate also denounced the newspaper’s management.
In an interview with an international news agency, Elsy Moufarrej, the syndicate’s coordinator, told that the organization will pressure the Daily Star’s management to pay the salaries of eight staff from the editorial division and 14 others.
In the interview, Moufarrej said: “We will pressure through the press and through social media campaigns, and we could mobilize on the ground to demand that the administration pays the staff their salaries… if they do not pay salaries, we will stand by the staff in any legal cases they may pursue.”
