May Chidiac
Encyclopedia
May Chidiac (born 1964) is a Lebanese
Christian
Maronite journalist
.
Chidiac is a former television journalist at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
(LBC) and one of the station's main television anchors
until an assassination
attempt on her life. She was one of the few critics of Syria
's keeping troops stationed in Lebanon
after the end of the Lebanese Civil War
and charged that the Taif Accords
stipulated that Syria withdraw from Lebanon. On the day she was attacked, after the Cedar Revolution
and Syria's troop withdrawal from Lebanon earlier that year, she hosted a talk show in which she criticized Syria's continuous meddling in Lebanon's affairs and voiced fears of further violence ahead of the UN
report on the death of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri
. On February 3, 2009, she announced her resignation on her LBC show "Bi Kol Jor'a".
in Jounieh
, Lebanon.
The bomb which nearly killed her was a one-pound device, detonated as she entered her car. Her left leg below the knee was blown off and her hair and clothes were set on fire. She was in stable condition following the amputation
of her severely injured left arm. The blast was one of a series of bombings
in Lebanon mostly targeting critics of Syria, but including the pro-Syrian Lebanese defense minister, Elias Murr
. One other prominent journalist, Samir Kassir
, and anti-Syrian politicians including George Hawi
and Gebran Tueni
, editor and publisher of the daily newspaper, An-Nahar
, were killed in these attacks.
After months of treatment and numerous surgeries in Beirut
and Paris
, May appeared on TV on May 25, 2006, defiant, smiling and promising to return to journalism.
On 27 January 2006, Chidiac announced her candidacy for the vacated Maronite seat in Lebanon's Baabda-Aley district in a televised interview.
On 12 July 2006, May Chidiac returned to Beirut. Her first visit in Lebanon was to the shrine of Saint Charbel
, in the Byblos
region. This was the location where she spent the day before the attack on her life. She participated in a mass celebrated by the superior of the monastery, Fr. Tannous Nehme.
In 2007, May Chidiac published her biography, Le Ciel m'attendra (French for "heaven can wait”) in which she tells her painful experience.
On February 3, 2009 May Chidiac made a surprise announcement on the air that she would no longer present "B Kil Jora'a" on LBC
. She made no other comments about future career moves.
On 27 October 2006 May Chidiac received one of the three Courage in Journalism Awards presented by the International Women's Media Foundation
. The award ceremony was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. An American reporter kidnapped in Iraq and a Chinese journalist twice jailed for her economic and political reporting also received this award.
On 3 May 2006, UNESCO
awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize
to May Chidiac in recognition of her courage in defending and promoting freedom of the press
.
On 3 May 2007, the former French president, Jacques Chirac
awarded May Chidiac the Legion of Honour at the Elysée Palace
in Paris
. Chirac described Chidiac as a "symbol of free speech in Lebanon."
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Maronite journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
.
Chidiac is a former television journalist at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation , widely known as LBC, is the first private television station in Lebanon. It went global in 1996 when it launched its satellite channel LBC Al-Fadha'iya Al-Lubnaniya covering the Arab World. It now has several channels covering Europe, America, Australia, and...
(LBC) and one of the station's main television anchors
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
until an assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
attempt on her life. She was one of the few critics of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
's keeping troops stationed in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
after the end of the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
and charged that the Taif Accords
Taif Agreement
The Taif Agreement was an agreement reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon." Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the decades-long Lebanese civil war, politically accommodate the demographic...
stipulated that Syria withdraw from Lebanon. On the day she was attacked, after the Cedar Revolution
Cedar Revolution
The Cedar Revolution or Independence Intifada was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005.The primary goals of the original activists were the...
and Syria's troop withdrawal from Lebanon earlier that year, she hosted a talk show in which she criticized Syria's continuous meddling in Lebanon's affairs and voiced fears of further violence ahead of the UN
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
report on the death of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri
Rafik Hariri
Rafic Baha El Deen Al-Hariri , was a business tycoon and the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation, 20 October 2004.He headed five cabinets during his tenure...
. On February 3, 2009, she announced her resignation on her LBC show "Bi Kol Jor'a".
Assassination Attempt
Chidiac was seriously injured on 25 September 2005, by a car bombCar bomb
A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...
in Jounieh
Jounieh
Jounieh is a Mediterranean coastal city about 16 kilometers north of Beirut, Lebanon. Jounieh is known for its seaside resorts, pubs, restaurants and nightclubs, as well as its old stone souk, ferry, and cablecar , which takes passengers up the mountain to the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in...
, Lebanon.
The bomb which nearly killed her was a one-pound device, detonated as she entered her car. Her left leg below the knee was blown off and her hair and clothes were set on fire. She was in stable condition following the amputation
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...
of her severely injured left arm. The blast was one of a series of bombings
2005 Lebanon bombings
Post-Lahoud Term Extension=In recent years, a series of bombings and assassinations have struck Lebanon, most of them occurring in and around the capital, Beirut. This wave of bombings began with the assassination attempt of Mr...
in Lebanon mostly targeting critics of Syria, but including the pro-Syrian Lebanese defense minister, Elias Murr
Elias Murr
Elias Murr is the former Lebanese Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. He held the positions of Deputy Prime minister and Interior Minister in previous Cabinets....
. One other prominent journalist, Samir Kassir
Samir Kassir
Samir Kassir was a Lebanese professor of history at Saint-Joseph University and journalist. Born to a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother, Kassir received his degree in philosophy and political philosophy in 1984, in 1990, Kassir earned his PhD in Modern History also from the University of...
, and anti-Syrian politicians including George Hawi
George Hawi
George Hawi was a Lebanese politician and former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party . He was assassinated in 2005.-Background:...
and Gebran Tueni
Gebran Tueni
Gebran Ghassan Tueni was a Lebanese politician and the former editor and publisher of the mass circulation An-Nahar daily newspaper in Beirut, Lebanon....
, editor and publisher of the daily newspaper, An-Nahar
An-Nahar
An-Nahar , is the leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon.It was first published on August 4, 1933 as a four-page, hand-set paper. The paper provided a platform for various free thinkers to express their views during the years of the Syria occupation of Lebanon. The paper can be best...
, were killed in these attacks.
After months of treatment and numerous surgeries in Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, May appeared on TV on May 25, 2006, defiant, smiling and promising to return to journalism.
On 27 January 2006, Chidiac announced her candidacy for the vacated Maronite seat in Lebanon's Baabda-Aley district in a televised interview.
On 12 July 2006, May Chidiac returned to Beirut. Her first visit in Lebanon was to the shrine of Saint Charbel
Charbel
Charbel, Sharbel, or Sharbel Makhluf, , born as Youssef Antoun Makhlouf in Bekaa Kafra in northern Lebanon, was a Syriac-Maronite monk and priest, canonized saint by the Roman Catholic Church and now venerated world-wide.-His Life:...
, in the Byblos
Byblos
Byblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jubayl and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...
region. This was the location where she spent the day before the attack on her life. She participated in a mass celebrated by the superior of the monastery, Fr. Tannous Nehme.
In 2007, May Chidiac published her biography, Le Ciel m'attendra (French for "heaven can wait”) in which she tells her painful experience.
On February 3, 2009 May Chidiac made a surprise announcement on the air that she would no longer present "B Kil Jora'a" on LBC
Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation , widely known as LBC, is the first private television station in Lebanon. It went global in 1996 when it launched its satellite channel LBC Al-Fadha'iya Al-Lubnaniya covering the Arab World. It now has several channels covering Europe, America, Australia, and...
. She made no other comments about future career moves.
Awards
- Courage in Journalism Awards
On 27 October 2006 May Chidiac received one of the three Courage in Journalism Awards presented by the International Women's Media Foundation
International Women's Media Foundation
The International Women’s Media Foundation , located in Washington, DC, is a network of thousands of left-wing women journalists working internationally to elevate the status of women in the media. The IWMF has created groundbreaking programs to help women in the media develop practical solutions...
. The award ceremony was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. An American reporter kidnapped in Iraq and a Chinese journalist twice jailed for her economic and political reporting also received this award.
- Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize
On 3 May 2006, UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize
UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize
The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, created in 1997, honours a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.The...
to May Chidiac in recognition of her courage in defending and promoting freedom of the press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
.
- Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur
On 3 May 2007, the former French president, Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
awarded May Chidiac the Legion of Honour at the Elysée Palace
Élysée Palace
The Élysée Palace is the official residence of the President of the French Republic, containing his office, and is where the Council of Ministers meets. It is located near the Champs-Élysées in Paris....
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Chirac described Chidiac as a "symbol of free speech in Lebanon."
External links
- Assassinations haunt the press - IFEXInternational Freedom of Expression ExchangeThe International Freedom of Expression eXchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of around 90 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....
- UNESCO awards press freedom prize to Chidiac
- LBC interview with May Chidiac (subtitled)
- May Chidiac, the Ardent Champion